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Jun 12, 2010

Debtors Prison And The Prison Of Debt

I think it's interesting that some law makers and think tankers are fretting over the problem of people "walking away from their financial obligations", "refusing to be held accountable".  The power-holders get all worked up and blame a sense of entitlement that they say is rampant in American society.  They sit there and scratch their heads and wonder why everybody thinks it's OK to screw the poor little old entrepreneurial bankers who're are just trying to make a few bucks helping us realize the American Dream.

A couple of things:
1) most people have every intention of holding up their end of the bargain.
2) most people by now have seen more than a few instances where mover-shakers have either weaseled out of their responsibilities, or actively cheated the consumer.

In spite of our treasured myth of the Rugged Individual, most Americans are followers just like everybody else in the world.  We emulate the examples set for us by the people who are presented to us as leaders.  And since we've heard practically nothing but a steady stream of "all government is incompetent and corrupt, only the private sector works right", our real leaders are the few guys who run the corporations.  And we see those guys going to extraordinary lengths to avoid fulfilling even the basic commitments to the social contract - tax evasion schemes, off-shoring jobs, short-cutting workplace safety, ignoring environmental law and and and - all in the name of preserving capital, cutting costs and boosting profits.  Don't get me wrong; all that preserving and cutting and boosting is a good thing, but not when it comes at the expense of the system that makes the enterprise itself possible.

So anyway, I'm a little off track.  To get back to the point, now we see a lot of "regular people" walking away, saying "fuck the rules and fuck everybody else, I'm gonna do what's best for me and mine right now".  There's no honor in the system we've developed.  One guy's promise is only as good as the other guy's lawyer's ability to hold him to it.

Our "leaders" have shown us the way.  The system is eating itself.

I suspect we'll see more of this kind of thing.
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