One More Day Alive

What do greedy union bosses and Wall Street tycoons have in common? Could it be Old Scratch – the guy with the horns and the bifurcated tail?

Greedy Union bosses refusing to accept salary modifications bring down the auto bailout in the United States Senate on the same day a long time Wall Street powerbroker is arrested after confessing to a massive fraud scheme that will cost investors $50 million bucks! Who is behind all of this? As former SNL cutup Dana Carvey would say, “Could it be – Satan?”

OK, so maybe we don’t have actual photographs of Satan lurking in the shadows, but America cannot extricate itself from its overwhelming economic crisis until it accepts this is not just an economic problem, nor is it a regulatory problem, nor even a problem with too little or too much government – it’s an ethical problem. And we need an ethical policy to get us back on track?

Over the course of the last several decades we have seen Wall Street artificially inflate he market, and corporate executives break the law and the trust of their stockholders in order to maximize personal wealth regardless of the effects on thousands of stockholders. We have watched politicians, banks, and mortgage companies promote and protect fraud and deceit in order to boost their bottom line in the short run.

We have seen everyday people lie about income and make promises to pay that many knew were illegitimate, so they could have more than they could afford or need. Add to that a bunch of self-motivated oil speculators who drove the price of oil through the roof until a sabotaged economy brought it down, and a nation of people seemingly obsessed with having more, bigger and better stuff.

Finally, now we have Wall Street financiers and Big Business bosses looking for government bailout packages, unions refusing to negotiate wages for the good of ALL the employees and the nation, and everyday folks all looking for tax breaks and what their country can do for them, instead of the other way around. (Then there is that little deal over in Illinois where a sitting governor tried to sell our incoming president’s senate seat to the highest bidder.)

What do all these things have in common? They are all SELFISH AND IMMORAL!

This is a wake up call to realize that we cannot find success and prosperity through self-centered indulgence. That’s not how America was built. But somewhere along the line, some crazy idiot convinced a bunch of modern Americans that capitalism was based on greed and self-service.

Not so says the founder of capitalism, Adam Smith. Most unethical opportunists today point to Smith’s claims in his famous “Wealth of Nations” that self-interests alone are what make capitalism work. But Smith wrote another book that most people have not read. In his “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” he clarifies his theory of capitalism arguing that sympathy for others is a prerequisite for success both in the individual and in society.

Smith categorically disapproves of selfishness as inappropriate, if not immoral. He explains that true “self-interest” includes the interest of the rest of society, since the social acceptance, status, and support of all affects the interests of the individual that is a member of that society. He argues only a society which values social justice achieved through community and moral obligations can achieve prosperity.

So unless we are going to return to the principles of community responsibility, social integrity and the work ethic that worked once upon a time to make America great, we might as well sell the shop and move back to the old country!

But how on earth can we find those principles again? Religion may be the saving grace that gives all of us — even the non-religious — the wisdom and fortitude to find our way amidst a barrage of national and global challenges because religion is where we got it in the first place.

Since the United States of America was founded on the divinely ordained innate value of humanity and our responsibility to respect it, as derived from the Judeo Christian Bible— old-time religion might be what we are looking for. It’s a pretty good start for anyone looking for some pointers on doing the “right” thing.

But if religion is not your thing, then you better find some other absolute, moral gyroscope that centers your purpose and being in something other than yourself, one that is not relativistic, and that will allow all of us as a nation to make very real economic, political and possibly mortal sacrifices for the good of others.

Otherwise – Satan is ready and willing to be our next Chairman of the Federal Reserve!

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