They Just Don't Get It
By Steven Pearlstein
Tuesday, September 30, 2008; D01
The basic problem here is that too many people don't understand the seriousness of the situation.
Americans fail to understand that they are facing the real prospect of a decade of little or no economic growth because of the bursting of a credit bubble that they helped create and that now threatens to bring down the global financial system.
I'm not going to dispute anything in the article. I'm going to tell you this particular argument will fail with Americans. It fails with me, because Americans helped create the credit bubble in exactly the same way a hammer helps build a house.
Your standard American, in pursuit of all he's been taught to pursue using the methods he's been taught to use, falls inevitably into this trap. Falling into the trap is promoted as the right thing to do.
Or it was...
So you need to stop trying to place any blame at all on Americans for this disaster. You will just keep invoking that fairness reflex that, for some reason, caught you by surprise this week.
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It seems both you and
It seems both you and Pearlstein agree as to what precipitated the credit crisis.
Are you disagreeing with his estimation of Americans as unsophisticated and avaricious? Please explain.
Now I'm No Economist....
So I must abmit the out of my element in this arena. But I do agree that Americans are guilty of pursuing all that we have been taught to pursue. But could it be that the capitalist system indeed has some serious faults and that we are now witnessing some of those faults right now? And if it dose why do many act as if it don't? I'm sure I read somewhere that the capitalist system can be very cannibalistic if left alone. Am I wrong?
Are you disagreeing with his
Not really. I would have to discount the Americanness of a lot of folks at the top of the financial industry to do that.
I'm saying the people who direct the industry, who create the tools and set the rules, are the only ones that can be responsible for the mess. And your average person, knowing he did nothing but follow the rules, will not accept the blame for it. He will see Pearlstein say he helped create the problem and not only reject him, he will reject the position Pearlstein is forwarding.
But could it be that the
THIS capitalist system. We've had several in our history.
You really, really have to keep in mind capitalism is only one element of our economic system. And I don't think it's the element responsible for the credit crisis.