Joseph Stiglitz: Economic Crisis Exposed The 'Moral Bankruptcy' Of Our Society

Mother Jones:

We have created a society in which materialism overwhelms moral commitment, in which the rapid growth that we have achieved is not sustainable environmentally or socially, in which we do not act together to address our common needs. Market fundamentalism has eroded any sense of community and has led to rampant exploitation of unwary and unprotected individuals. There has been an erosion of trust -- and not just in our financial institutions. It is not too late to close these fissures.

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[stargazer13]

12:48 PM on 02/09/2010

the man is right on target !!

God speed to his message ! hope every American reads this !

[Lowell Thompson]

02:04 AM on 01/22/2010

Tell it Joe!

Joseph Stiglitz seems to be that rare public intellectual who has both the credentials, the ability to communicate and the (as my former Governor would say) "testicular fortitude" to confront the powers that be.

He, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich and Paul Volcker are doing us all a great service. I just hope Obama has been chastised enough by the Massachusetts fiasco to start listening to them instead of Geithner, Summers and Bernanke.

http://buythecover.com

[nomoredead]

11:34 PM on 01/18/2010

" A man is wealthy when he says he has enough. " Old Chinese Proverb

[rudolph]

10:21 PM on 01/18/2010

We are a people that refuses to recognize limits. The word "enough" has no place in our moral vocabulary. We will be the means of our own extinction.

[spiralskydancer]

09:33 PM on 01/18/2010

greetings......"A "moral man" is a frightened man - chicken hearted man; that is why he practices morality and sits in judgement over others".: ug krishnamurti....worth a google...

[Carl Caroli]

07:21 PM on 01/18/2010

The sad part is the majority of these CEO and high finance folks all claim to be good Christian's and are supported by the christian right -either none of them see the hypocrisy of their lives and lies, or they do, and they are ok with living the life of a predator.

[olephart]

03:15 PM on 01/17/2010

What this crisis has exposed is a Government that cannot govern. It has exposed system whereby those who make and enforce the rules are themselves “governed” by those for whom the rules are intended. It has exposed a system whereby the Public Trust is not only set aside but actively violated by those chosen to oversee it. It has exposed a system whereby the representatives of the People knowingly, willfully and intentionally prostitute themselves to various special interests. All of this is done openly in full sight of the laws which the prostitutes have written that govern their actions.

Thus our system has come full circle from deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed to maintaining its unjust powers at the cost of the governed and finally to usurping its powers in spite of the governed.

[FogBelter]

01:54 PM on 01/17/2010

I think there is a basic psychological problem at the root of the addiction to amassing wealth and power. It is an inability of individuals to accept their own mortality. The inability of people accepting that all they acquire, achieve, and amass they ultimately surrender. Everyone ... no exception. The manic obsession to build a hedge against mortality allows individuals to divorce themselves from the fact they are trapped in the same human condition as those suffering in Haiti right now.

If people were to understand and accept that pushing others down in no way elevates themselves or fundamentally betters their condition in terms of the big picture, then maybe life on this planet could be less harsh, and cold, and cruel for more of the Human family.

We are told as we are raised "to get ahead" ... there is no such thing.

[The Meek]

09:36 AM on 01/18/2010

I agree that these people are suffering from a psychological problem. Calling the Bankers, Streeters and Legislators immoral solves nothing. Labeling others as immoral only serves the purpose of inflating the ego of the labeler.

Check out some history to find out about the lives of power fiends. From what I have seen and read, these people lead miserable lives and live in a segment of society where no one can be trusted.

I don't envy them at all. And of course, they will die, just like you and I.

[vindrag]

05:01 PM on 01/18/2010

In other words, death is the great equalizer.

[senorlou]

01:31 AM on 01/17/2010

It's obvious the system isn't working. Those in the financial "industry" are really not worth much at all to our society for their "services". Yet, they're paid more than anyone. Why? It doesn't make sense. Those who toil every day for the good of society: police officers, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, they hardly make ends meet in some towns. In any other private sector jobs outside of the financial industry, if your company blows it, you lose your job. I've never seen a larger scale, more unjust, cruel system than our current social model in the workplace. It can't go on like this.

[holyghostie]

12:11 AM on 01/17/2010

Amen brother Joe. You tell them. We have become morally bankrupt on our way to becoming just plain old bankrupt.

[joebhed]

09:06 PM on 01/16/2010

The debt-money system is broken.
No pointing fingers.
Just a new money system, without all that debt.
By people and the government.

http://govtdebt.blogspot.com/

The Money System Common

[acudoc]

11:10 PM on 01/16/2010

Bravo, joebhed, for striking at the root and not flailing away at the branches! The debt-based money system is economic feudalism. It is totally unconstitutional and has been the greatest scam perpetrated against the American people by the ruling and banking elites in the history of the world.

Prohibit fractional-reserve lending and return to a dollar based on a fixed weight of gold. While you're at it, forgive all the debt encumbering citizens and productive enterprises, and allow the holders of the notes to be credited with the unpaid prinicipal. They don't necessarily deserve it, but it would make for a relatively peaceful transition.

[vascopyjama]

04:18 AM on 01/16/2010

Gee Mr. Stiglitz, did you figure this out all by your self. And so quick too.

[bola47]

12:11 AM on 01/16/2010

i think it is the moral bankruptcy of wall street.

[vippy]

10:36 AM on 01/16/2010

Not really, I listen to renters,whose landlords won't do anything, car salesmen, who sell cars knowingly that they are unfit, companies that won't honor their policies, etc. Just look around and listen, open your eyes. Well, just look at the road rage, try to get in phased in and see how long one has to wait, simple things. People are just angry all the way around.

[1murillo]

11:25 PM on 01/15/2010

Capitalism is based on greed. The greedier (for funds, material) one is, the more successful a capitalist one will be. There should be no surprise if our capitalist based society is amoral. Trust - implicit or explicit - doesn't enter the equation.

[Kache]

03:22 AM on 01/16/2010

Only a low-life Reaganite would say such a thing.

J.P. Morgan (the capitalist par excellence) testified to the Senate in 1913 that, “A man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom.”

[CologneCitizen]

08:05 AM on 01/16/2010

Obviously there are capitalistic countries that are able to channel this greed a bit.

We have basically the same system in Germany. However the idea of a social democracy is lived and executed as well by the conservative party in charge now. Capitalism and a strong emphasis on social benefits are not a contradiction. In the USA this is often falsely named as socialism which it is not. In fact it has nothing to do with socialism.

As the masses in the USA are not educated on these issues they can easily be influenced with buzzwords like "nanny states". IMO it all distracts from the fact Americans go constantly against their very own interest as they are not even able to define them correctly.

[Cleanerman]

03:31 PM on 01/16/2010

I feel you are absolutely correct, Cologne. What I hear from so many fellow Americans astonishes me, especially after the economic calamity we have faced so far. Even though so many have been hurt by greedy, unrestrained capitalism, we continue to shout against the need for reforming capitalism to allow for fairness to the masses. Capitalism may sound wonderful in theory--but theory does not consider human behavior and, here, I am primarily thinking of greediness. There is no economic formula that is perfect but unrestrained capitalism does not work to the benefit of average citizens over the long haul. We have seen what unfettered capitalism does to a society---it ignores the poor, lowers the standard of living of the middle class and highly enriches the "cream of the crop" of society. Americans have been brainwashed to believe that a socialist democracy = socialism itself. Americans believe that nearly all social benefits and almost all taxation are evil---when, in fact--to an extent should be considered moral, e.g. for Universal Health Care, a good educational system and so forth. Certainly, a reasonable balance should be struck, but the economic system we have now should be considered unacceptable.

[MuchMadness]

11:08 PM on 01/15/2010

This moral bankruptcy in the area of economic justice coincides with moral degradation in our society's increasing tendency to justify abortion, divorce, and homosexual unions, and to disparage religion and glorify hedonism.

[BBinMT]

05:08 PM on 01/16/2010

You just ran an intelligent discussion off the tracks.

[MuchMadness]

06:25 PM on 01/16/2010

Why? Do you think it is possible to have low standards in one area without gradually weakening the standards of conduct in other areas?