What's Wrong With This Country, and How To Fix It.
Everyday I hear people complaining about the situation in this country, but not actually doing anything about it. So, in the interest of sparking a revolution in this country, let me point out exactly who is to blame.
It's not the corporations, it's not even the politicians. The biggest threat to this country is UNCHECKED GREED.
Think about it: our economy is on the ropes because of the 'mortgage crisis'. I was working in the mortgage industry a few years ago, and I can tell you what really happened: greedy loan officers convinced people they could have more home than they could afford. Those people then wrote down a 'stated income' that was much higher than their actual income, and had it legally motorized that they were telling the truth. These exaggerated applications were submitted to mortgage companies that new they were bad, but issued the loan anyway, but turned around and passed off the bad debts as a new form of security that could be bought on the open market.
The flood of new loans drove up home values, and rising interest rates made it impossible for people to keep up with the increasing mortgage amounts, and the defaults started. As the loans started to go bad, the securities went bad, and the bubble burst.
So what does that have to do with greed? The mortgage companies new the loans were bad, the brokers new the loans were bad, and to be honest large numbers of people knew the loans were bad when they signed up for them.
But it's not just mortgages, unchecked greed is the cause of almost everything that's wrong:
Greed makes big oil block Green technology
Greed makes corrupt politicians block health care reform (more on this later)
Greed makes big insurance companies sell out their companies for big bonuses
I know several people who think it should be illegal to earn more than a certain amount of money in a year, but I don't believe that's true.
If you are performing a service at a profit, good on you. The problem is when companies KNOWINGLY damage the environment or human lives in pursuit of the all mighty dollar.
So what's the solution?
Here are two BIG steps you can take:
1.Call them on it. If you know that a company is engaging in immoral activities, and trying to cover it up, point it out! Post it here, and everywhere you can find an audience.
2.Vote with your wallet. Don't support companies you know are participating in immoral or unethical business practices
3.Support 'good' companies. Try to find “Conscious Capitalist” that you can buy good and services from.
When there is more profit in solutions than in causing problems, all of our problems will be solved.
Let me know what you think!
It's not the corporations, it's not even the politicians. The biggest threat to this country is UNCHECKED GREED.
Think about it: our economy is on the ropes because of the 'mortgage crisis'. I was working in the mortgage industry a few years ago, and I can tell you what really happened: greedy loan officers convinced people they could have more home than they could afford. Those people then wrote down a 'stated income' that was much higher than their actual income, and had it legally motorized that they were telling the truth. These exaggerated applications were submitted to mortgage companies that new they were bad, but issued the loan anyway, but turned around and passed off the bad debts as a new form of security that could be bought on the open market.
The flood of new loans drove up home values, and rising interest rates made it impossible for people to keep up with the increasing mortgage amounts, and the defaults started. As the loans started to go bad, the securities went bad, and the bubble burst.
So what does that have to do with greed? The mortgage companies new the loans were bad, the brokers new the loans were bad, and to be honest large numbers of people knew the loans were bad when they signed up for them.
But it's not just mortgages, unchecked greed is the cause of almost everything that's wrong:
Greed makes big oil block Green technology
Greed makes corrupt politicians block health care reform (more on this later)
Greed makes big insurance companies sell out their companies for big bonuses
I know several people who think it should be illegal to earn more than a certain amount of money in a year, but I don't believe that's true.
If you are performing a service at a profit, good on you. The problem is when companies KNOWINGLY damage the environment or human lives in pursuit of the all mighty dollar.
So what's the solution?
Here are two BIG steps you can take:
1.Call them on it. If you know that a company is engaging in immoral activities, and trying to cover it up, point it out! Post it here, and everywhere you can find an audience.
2.Vote with your wallet. Don't support companies you know are participating in immoral or unethical business practices
3.Support 'good' companies. Try to find “Conscious Capitalist” that you can buy good and services from.
When there is more profit in solutions than in causing problems, all of our problems will be solved.
Let me know what you think!
The problem is, Dave, that companies engaging in immoral or illegal activity can profit and undercut the price of other companies. In hard economic times, I have a hard time justifying spending more money on something i can get for less when my family has needs that are going unmet.
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That's an excellent point.
You're absolutely right that an Organic farmer with limited land available for use may be forced to charge, say, 25 cents per unit, where as one of the food super conglomerates may be able to charge .05 cents per unit. When faced with paying 5 times more on a limited budget, it may well seem like your hands are tied.
But they are not.
Try shopping at Farmer's Markets or small neighborhood (non-chain) grocery stores. If that's not possible in your area, choose one product or company to boycott to the best of your ability. For instance, if you buy only organic bananas, or only buy coffee from a company that doesn't clear cut amazon rain forest, the economic impact on you should be relatively small, but if enough people follow suit the companies would feel it in a BIG way.
It's difficult to balance the need for long term change and leaving our family a functioning, sustainable world with the immediate needs of survival, but it CAN be done.
Thanks for getting involved, I look forward to hearing more from you!
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