I’m really sick of everyone looking for someone else to blame for their economic woes. In fact, a couple of years ago when the shit began dripping on the fan, I told a friend, “Just watch. Everyone’s going to jump on this bandwagon. Every bank and company and person who has something to write off — will.”
Yes, lots of business people did lots of shady things that created opportunities for corruption. But you and I both know, no one forces you to max out your credit card or buy a house that’s too big for your budget. No one told you to buy that fancy car and you know cooking at home would be much better for your bottom line — in more ways than one.
Sure, blame the guys at the top. Those crooked bastards should pay for the wrongs they’ve committed. But, don’t forget to take a hard look at what you’ve done to create your own personal economic meltdown.
Americans of all political stripes, suffering in multiple ways from twelve months of economic collapse, are looking for somebody to blame. Yet the real culprits, the Wall Street executives who drove the economy into the ditch, have walked away largely unscathed. Indeed, a new study by the Institute for Policy Studies finds that the top twenty financial CEOs averaged $13.8 million in compensation in 2008, over a third more than other top chief executives.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2009.
