Apocalypse awaits us or so says the Book of Revelation and the Mayan calendar. Man has been fascinated by the end of days since the beginning of them.
But it is not the end of days we are sensing now; it is the end of systems. Seismic shifts are shaking our body politic, and life-changing anxiety hangs in our air like vapor from a sulfur cave. When systems break down, strife breaks out. Times of instability begin. Uncertainty is an unwelcome guest.
The list of institutions affecting our fate is short but potent. Are we up to the adjustments ahead? That is the question and the challenge. We are at an historical turning point; we will rise or fall depending on how we respond to an irresponsible past. Excess was fun but clean up is hell.
Many banks have grown from lending institutions to moneychangers in the temple: passing accountability for loans down into a potpourri of untraceable semi-worthless paper. They have literally passed the buck until the buck has evaporated from exposure to the elements.
In the recovery package, where is the regulation to eliminate these hand-me-down bad debts? Without that restriction, our trust in banking will not be restored. That single act would cause the lender to accept responsibility for his loan, and the borrower to have the security of knowing where his buck stopped. Mr. President and Congress, just do it.
Corporations have lost any vestige of soul or hint of responsibility. Breakdown in goodwill for the auto industries, AIG and the Wall Street brokerage firms is pandemic. What respect and faith there were for these giants have shriveled with their mismanagement and bad party manners. On the one hand, we want the companies to survive because of the unemployment consequences, and the pain that causes. On the other hand, we think poorly run companies should disappear if they cannot sustain themselves. Hobson's choice.
Our main source of energy, petroleum, is both finite and fungible. It is also harmful to our health and long-term survival. Renewable energy sources are out there. Now we need to reinvent old fading companies into new ones. Rebirth of a nation. Let the auto giants restructure in chapter 11, and come out with fuel saving models of electric, battery operated and hybrid vehicles. Industrial Darwinism at work. Dollars are in the recovery package for renewables. Bring them on.
Climate change is here, and as Tom Friedman quotes, "Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts." Indeed, she will have the last word, and it will be caustic. Time is a-wasting to reverse carbon levels in our atmosphere. Failure to do so will result in more water shortages, drought, changes in agriculture production, changes in sea levels and a host of unpredictable results. When push comes to shove, good air and good drinking water are the highest of priorities.
Along with the slack-jawed banks, defense costs and the war in Iraq are co-culprits for the deficits. The good news is that revising how defense contracts are awarded, as the president has directed, will be a bonus for us, the taxpayers.
A central tenet of our financial structure is based upon buying just one more car, refrigerator, jacket or widget. Hence our predicament. We made one widget too many and the whole camel (us) collapsed. It was inevitable. Infinity is not a sustainable market concept; supply and demand is. We just kept loading supplies onto the poor camel even though his capacity clearly had been exceeded: not very clever or observant of us.
So we have these institutions and climate change to blame for our new reality. Basic systems are destined for fundamental change. That reality is both frightening and exciting. Our own life styles and patterns will change. New industries create new opportunities. Birth is painful, and joyous and dangerous, but we have no choice.
History teaches us that we can make a brave new beginning or that we can fall into disarray. This is America, and we have the innovation and character to take this critical turning point and remake ourselves into a country of new energy, new frugality, new standards of fiscal practices, and new optimism.