Crisis of Trust

The term crisis is being thrown around a lot these days. Housing crisis. Wall Street crisis. Financial crisis. Numbers are being tossed about that boggle the mind (700 billion?!) and terms that leave the average taxpayer glazed and confused. But as I watch the higher-ups scurrying to and fro, contriving bailout schemes and economic witch’s brew, it occurs that the real crisis is not in the American economy. It’s much deeper than that. It’s a crisis of trust.

In particular, there are three American institutions that could have — should have! — observed the indicators and forewarned us of this financial cardiac.

1. Politicians — Aren’t these the people we elect to serve us, the seamen we hire to guide this vessel safely to shore? Well, someone’s been snoozing in the crow’s nest, getting fat on the cargo they should’ve been guarding. Gorged on their own power, greedy for more, squabbling amongst themselves about who should man the helm, we plummet toward the rocky shoreline. Imbeciles! If anything is bi-partisan, it is our politicians’ complicity in letting the SS America run aground.
2. Financial Institutions — Last I checked, basic math was a part of borrowing and lending. How in the hell you can loan someone money to buy what they can’t afford — money they can never pay back! — is beyond me. Was it in the name of compassion? (Everybody should own a house.) Or was it in the name of greed? (Who cares that they’ll never pay it off — just get their signature.) Maybe it was both. Either way, the individuals / institutions handling America’s purse strings do not deserve a bailout, but a pink slip.
3. The Media — Aren’t these the “checkers,” the “watchdogs,” the “truth-tellers,” behind the Unblinking Eye? Right! These morons are too busy peeping up Brittney’s skirt and fawning over the Dem’s Enlightened Being to have seen this coming. Sure, they’re all over it now (hysterical, one could say). But stories like this —  When Watchdogs Snore: How ABC, CBS and NBC Ignored Fannie and Freddie — are, sadly, limited to the “right wing” of this sputtering airplane. The American media is not unlike the Great and Powerful Oz, cloaking their irrelevance behind flashbombs of sensationalism and spires of misdirection, little people with grand agendas framing the discussion in their terms, highlighting only what they consider “newsworthy.” For all their acumen, they didn’t see this coming. Wake up, people! Can we afford to keep ignoring the man behind the curtain?

So it’s folks like me and Lisa — great credit, never defaulted on a loan, raised four kids, while living entirely within our means… for 28 flippin’ years — who get penalized.  Yeah, it’s official: We cannot trust our politicians, financial institutions, or the media to tell the truth and protect us. This, my friends, is the real crisis.