Monday, November 16, 2009
Going to The Roots of the Economic Crisis
Regulation...deregulation...these are words that have become the battleground between the progressive/populist movement and Wall Street and its supporters. They are the two sides of the polarity that governs our approach to human behavior generally and to our economic sphere specifically: "freedom" vs. "Rule of Law." We "regulate" ourselves - either through external laws and institutions or by an internal super ego that tells us what is right and what is wrong. Freedom, therefore, can be seen in this context: The progressive sees regulation as a boundary in which the individual operates in his or her own freedom. The Wall Streeter, in this instance, finds it burdensome to accept the economic boundaries, finding them as obstacles to what they feel is their right to the freedom of creative money-making.
It is not at all surprising that boundary making is the realm of both sides of the polarity, and that each one claims its territory with a passion. While the bankers don't want boundaries in their economic sphere, they do want them when it comes to protecting their bounty. Here they insist on boundaries in the form of criminal and civil laws and regulations. And while progressives want these regulations in the economic sphere, they are opposed to them in the realm of their private lives, e.g. drug use, pornography, sexuality, abortion, etc.
There have been countless speeches, articles and discussions about this polarity. What is missing, however, is a discussion and understanding of WHAT we are attempting to regulate. Only then will we be able to determine how to effectively deal with it! Questions about what regulation is necessary, and, if yes, how can we best do this will then be taken in the context of what the true problem is.
The real roots of the economic crisis are to be found in the behavior of human beings, not how they are regulated or deregulated.
This is not to say that regulation should not be a tool, given the human behavior as it is today. It is to say that unless we know and understand how this behavior comes about and how it can be dealt with, we will not adequately deal with the issues that it presents to us.
Progressives often describe this behavior in terms of power and greed, which produces a substantial power and wealth disparity. Supporters of Wall Street see the economic world through the eyes of innovation, risk-taking and hearty individualism.
Today, we are getting a clear view of how that behavior can affect us all when it acts without restraint. What is apparent to an objective viewer is that those hearty Wall Street individuals, without regulation and when left to their own devices, have not acted in the best interest of the majority, but have in fact pursued power and the accumulation of wealth to the detriment of most others. But what we fail to look at and explore is the behavior itself - how it happens and how it can ultimately change, regardless of regulation or not.
The central hypothesis of this article is simply this: While looking at regulating the financial industry, it is essential to also look at this kind of behavior in people and what creates it. What is greed all about? And how can it be dealt with, on a person-by-person basis, so that it no longer thrives in our marketplaces. Unless we are willing to explore this behavior and the possibility of its change on the psychological/spiritual level, we will constantly be faced with a financial industry that needs to be regulated because it does not consider the general welfare of the people. And they will do everything they can to stop or bypass regulation. We will continue to have a political body and regulators that are a product of the same human behavior background, and who are in many ways beholden to the financial industry. Through its power, this industry is destined, again and again, to create problems for the rest of us.
A willingness to explore how this behavior is created is the first step to actually dealing with the problem and not its symptoms or results. If we do not explore this, then it is akin to mopping up the water in front of the refrigerator instead of pulling the fridge out and finding out where the water is coming from and how it can be dealt with. We can mop forever without resolving the root cause of the water.
©2009 Subhan Schenker
