I've been thinking a lot about trust recently. When it is abundant everything goes more smoothly: from love to commerce, from sports to politics. When it is lacking, everything else can seem broken or meaningless.
Nowadays we hear the word "trust" used all the time in relation to the credit crunch and the steep decline in stock markets. It's bad enough for the economy when a business can't provide credit to a consumer. No car loan, no sales; no sales, no dealership; no dealership, no factory and so on. But lately even banks are afraid to loan money to one another. There are certainly many reasons why trust has evaporated in the credit markets, but the basic fact is that too many financial institutions were making loans (or trading loans) without having any real assurance that the borrower had the capacity to pay back the debt. The number of borrowers multiplied as the loans were traded, and the crisis of confidence spread like a stomach virus on a college campus. It's hard to tell who has deep exposure to these bad loans, who has tried to make lots of money by trading them before anybody realized they weren't going to get paid back. Uncertainty is a lack of faith, and the lack of faith destroys trust.
It's a cliché that trust is a lot easier to destroy than it is to build. When children tell us that this time they are telling the truth, and that they lie only some of the time, they are about to learn that even one lie destroys the credibility of all your other statements -- even when these other claims are true. One lie creates general uncertainty. We are seeing this everyday on Wall Street and in the banking sector. Governments are desperately trying to restore trust, but as long as there is lingering (and, I might add, reasonable) uncertainty about who is holding the bad debts they once tried to profit from, it will be impossible to have the basic trust that makes our credit systems work.
"Trust" is also a big issue in the political world. Lately, Sarah Palin has been trying to undermine the confidence that many have developed in Barack Obama by insinuating that he has had associations with unsavory, radical characters -- terrorists even. When John McCain calls Obama naïve about foreign leaders, he is saying, "My friends, this young man is likeable enough, but he just doesn't deserve the trust you must place in the Commander in Chief." And of course, when the junior senator from Illinois fires back on McCain's singing about bombing Iran, he is saying: "Hey, you just can't trust this guy. He's too hot-headed and impetuous."
The problem with the politics of attack that the Rovesque McCain-Palin ticket is now employing, and the problem with Obama's defense through recrimination, is that both strategies erode trust in democracy itself. People get fed up with the electoral system and become less likely to participate in it. Sure, attack ads get our attention, but once their manipulations are exposed, we feel less likely to believe anything. And, as in the case of the credit crisis, once we lose trust in the political process, it is very difficult to restore our confidence enough to care about any election at all.
The erosion of trust in our economy and in our leaders is not exactly news. But what can we do about it? Scientists last year reported that oxytocin can retard the erosion of trust, but I don't think mass medication is a path worth exploring here (despite the jump-start it would provide the ailing pharmaceutical industry). After all, we have good reasons for losing trust.
The cure for the erosion of trust is not medicinal; it's social. Participation builds trust. On the university campus where I work, the only ways I've seen trust successfully restored is to involve people once again in whatever activity they'd become uncertain about. From athletics to music, from lab science to poetry workshops, participation reduces uncertainty and builds faith through practice. When you begin again to seek or offer credit in secure ways, when investments can be protected, then you feel prepared to take a few new risks. When you get involved with your fellow-citizens in a political campaign or make your voice heard with your neighbors, you begin to see that democracy isn't only about attack. Democracy is about participating with people who you grow to trust by working together.
Teachers know this. We have to earn the trust of our students everyday so that they can risk making mistakes, so that they can take the chance to open themselves to learning. That's why we encourage the participation of our students.
Our current, acute crisis of confidence will pass. Then we must rebuild trust by participating in our economy and polity rather than just try to tear down others who are doing so.
The erosion of trust in the institutions in the United States signals a decline of the American empire, and with it the Western world. It's time to start paying close attention to trust issues. For this reason, I have created a Trust Portal. It provides a single point of entry for many resources on trust for business that include web sites, blogs, articles, papers, reports and books from leading trust experts, consultants, researchers and academics, as well as media and business practitioners commenting on trust issues. The information is maintained current with dynamically updating data feeds. It currently covers more than 20 trust-related topics. You can find the Trust Portal at http://www.protopage.com/trustportal.
Trust? Try earning it. Re-regulate Wall Street, punish the scam artist, toxic securities peddling thugs, and demand congress do their jobs as representatives if their constituents for a refreshing change. If they don't ( and I'm looking at you, Rep. Pelosi ) then we need to vote them out of office regardless of the party to which they may belong.
But let's not kid ourselves - democracy, as we knew it before Reagan, FAILED. Resuscitating some form of democratic government will require massive reconstruction which, given American politics, can only be accomplished by tinkering, and 'back-room' diplomacy, over a long period of time.
What to teach our children? That if McCain wins and the end of the Constitution is at hand, one day they will need to arm themselves to prepare for civil war. And if you haven't the stomach for it, it's probably time to retire.
America was born in revolution, not in some high-school civics class (which at the time would have taught loyalty to the British Crown). Americans may need to learn, once again, that the only real means of keeping tyrants at bay is the threat of a good thrashing. And sometimes the thrashing itself.
By all accounts, the overall problem in the market that has suddenly turned the problems of a few banks and home owners into another Great Depression – is a loss of confidence.
Just a few months ago, most businesses were still having record profits, but if consumers and businesses lose confidence and fear a recession, then they will spend less and pay down debt - which will cause a recession!
Country Last
Maybe businesses need regulation to protect them from a drop in confidence. After all, hasn’t an unethical minority nearly caused another Great Depression by reducing American confidence, which thus allowed speculators, short sellers , etc. to further hurt the economy more than they ever could have alone, which then allowed the unethical minority to further reduce confidence – in a self reinforcing downward spiral?
The motivation of this unethical minority was political gain at the expense of the whole nation - Country Last.
Now we know that Obama is one of the most guilty among the Democrats and the leftist media who together comprise this unethical minority who would destroy their country to win an election.
We can't solve this crisis if we don't understand what caused such a crisis. to learn the whole story, go here:
http://www.leeroyfdermit.com/2008/09/great-depression-of-2008.html
Truer words were never spoken. In te bailout passed by Congress, we have witnessed a new version of Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation that failed to get the economy out of the Depression. It is long overdue for local communities and institutions to be empowered to disburse Federal aid.
Those same irate folks at McCain rallies who have been disempowered by the domination of the economy by corporations and marginalization of their voice in decisions can play a role if, and only if, they become incorporated into the decision-making process. This is not just a matter of Democrats getting elected or Congress reviewing Paulson's actions. It is a matter of restructuring our poitical and economic institutions.
If McCain had chosen an appropriate VP and handled his campaign seriously, issues would have been discussed, debates would have been held and the population would not have been so polarized. Instead he chose to follow the Republican sleeze machine spearheaded trolls such as Gingrich, Rove and the right wing media, and went for expediency rather than integrity; with a win at all costs attitude rather than win based on merit.
Inn 2000, over halt the populaton sat helplesly by while their candidate was Bushwhacked by a packed Supreme Court, and despite warnings of his character, Bush steered my country into the icebergs of the Titanic. With a Republican Congress, and executive privilege, he had free rein to turn my government into his own private business and third world junta by using the resources of my country to payback his supporters, to place his inept friends into positions they were not qualified for, to start a war based on lies, and in general, to use my government and the White House as a platform to create a greed machine unparalled in American history.
No sir, we the people are more inclined now to participate in the electoral process to ensure that this will not happen again. Our lives depend on it.
Buy a car and make it last 12 - 14 years. Save for your childrens college. Pay off your house. Take care of your Mother who only makes $800/mo on social security AND thank god one is able to do it!!!
Pay no attention to Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, Goofy Hedge Fund Managers, Soccer Moms, American Idol, Survivor, Gossipy neighbors and the latest self help prescription.
Get up. Do what you need to do. Make your idols those people who have made a genuine contribution to this planet.
Mother Theresa's quote (whether you subscribe to religion or not): "Someone thirsts....someone took too much." Always make sure you give more than you take!
The home buyer should have independently uncovered the inflated assessments (hire an appraiser!), the artificially low teaser rates (hire a banker!), the bait and switch balloon payments (hire a lawyer!), the variable interest rate (hire an economist!), the brokers deceptions (hire another broker!?) Caveat emptor! Its just business when brokers, accountants, lawyers and account managers fleece some poor sucker. Caveat emptor! So what if some bought and paid for politician repeals the regulations protecting consumers? Caveat emptor!
But people need to be more trusting. Caveat emptor? Just because the people we elect to represent us lie to us legislate against our interests, the people we hire to represent us betray us because they get "points" as commission, the people we vote to boards bankrupt us because speculation results in paper profits that trigger "bonuses."
Right, our lack of trust can be alleviated by more participation. Caveat emptor!! We don't need no stink'n accountability! Caveat emptor!! The free market will cure any problems. Caveat emptor!! Trust me. CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!
Ironically McCain began his campaign arguing honor and trust were the two most important reasons America should elect him President.
"When every bank is able to lie an infinite amount about their cash reserves, and the value of their assets, then you can, by definition, trust everyone."
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/10/news/economy/accounting_rules.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008101012
It's really very simple. Honest businesses are trusted in their communities. The criminals are eventually found out. To be "not trusted" is a small price to pay given how much these people have stolen from our country. If you want to be respected, act respectful.
This isn't a question of people who got confused, made a bad call -- these are deliberate acts by savvy businesses to defraud the public, loot the country, enrich themselves, set up offshore P.O. boxes to avoid taxes. They have no conscience. They are traitors to our country. Let's not mince words about trust issues: they're criminals, and they should be in prison.
The proper thing to do was impeach Bush and then Cheney for his own, even more egregious lies (see the report that he lied to House Minority Leader Richard Armey to change Armey's vote on the invasion of Iraq).
If you wish to blame Democrats for anything, blame them for not removing these liars by the means prescribed by our Constitution from their positions of public power.
truth does not equal lies and false innuendo.