Work-Life Balance

The Meltdown in the Global Financial Markets

“The Bush administration and top law makers agreed upon a deal to
authorize the biggest banking rescue in US history.”
Wall Street Journal

In the light of the economic and financial woes facing the United States, I thought to write about the importance of having priorities in both our business and personal affairs.
 
What we know about the economic and financial crisis is what we hear and read from the various news media. But we do not sit in our smug little homes and judge the situation without knowing some important details surrounding the crisis. So I write from my best knowledge and information gleaned from the past few days.

From all indications, there seems to have been problems brewing in the financial system a few years earlier even before the present meltdown began.

A few questions we can ask:

1. Was there any “cooking of the books” in the large money lending institutions and was it directed by top corporate executives?
2. Was there trouble brewing in the economic and financial system that went unheeded? I understand that there were a few high-ranking government officials who years earlier voiced their concerns about the reckless lending practices of some banks and financial institutions.
3. Did the lending institutions make it too easy for clients to borrow money even beyond their ability to repay?
4. And because of this, were clients given a false sense of security when borrowing for a mortgage, feeling that the housing markets would remain strong?

Let’s take a closer look at these one by one:

1. When working for a company, the virtues of honesty and integrity should be the cornerstone of any business dealings. If keeping our job depends on being dishonest in any way, it is time to let our conscience rule and to act accordingly. Of course this relates as well to executives of any corporation. Asking employees to be dishonest in any way sets a dangerous precedent.
2. Government officials are elected to be the watchdogs of society and in good faith they should fulfill this mandate. We, as the general public and tax payers, expect them to look out for our best interests. Politicians cannot be asleep at the switch, so to speak, but should use their positions to oversee and prevent such economic crises from ever occurring. We need to have confidence in our elected officials; and when this is eroded, society in general becomes cynical and untrusting.
3. I cannot understand why lending institutions would allow such massive debts to accumulate while serving trusting clients with easy loans. Was it greed on the part of the lending institutions? Was it that they did not scrutinize the credit ratings of prospective borrowers? Or was it that they simply wanted to give people an easy way to realize their dream of home ownership?  Whatever the reason, according to the Washington Post, America finds herself facing billions of dollars of failed mortgages, with the result that credit markets, businesses, and consumers will have a hard time getting loans from banks and other lending institutions.
4. The old saying, “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is” can aptly be applied to this situation. Now the Federal Government wants to bail out Wall Street (not favorable with many), and in the process restore the flow of credit to Main Street’s home owners and businesses. 

My heart goes out to the many families and ordinary people who have lost their homes and their dreams for a better life; and in some cases are now worse off than they were before.

My conclusion is: In the end, our happiness in life cannot depend on what we own, wish to own, or see what others own, but to be satisfied to live within our means during these challenging times.

Is there a message in this sad tale for all of us? I leave it for you to decide for yourself.

Until next time, this is Nurse Audrey signing off!