Let's play, "I win...you lose!"

Isn't that what the banking and financial institutions have been doing as of late? And guess what, lots of people have lost and will continue to lose. This is not warm and fuzzy news. I guess if we want that kind of news, we'll have to go to a pet store and buy some.

Meanwhile, is anybody out there in charge? Is anybody out there willing to raise a hand and say "I'm responsible for some of this mess"? Is anybody out there taking the long view when planning business ventures, expansions, financial products and instruments and the possible fall-out and consequences if everything isn't right with the world? Did anyone, at any time when variable rate mortgages were introduced ever think this was only a good idea when rates when down and the people paying the "bill" were favored? Did anyone, at any point in time think that it was a good idea to assign variable rate mortgages to people trying to buy the American dream (a house) and being stretched to the max to do it, and that somehow "it would all work out"? Did anyone ever think about the fragility of the variable-rate mortgage market (and its customers) and the extreme results that would occur if interest rates were to move even a few percentage points north? When the real estate market started to soften in late 2005 and the banks and mortgage companies continued to hand out sub-prime and questionnable standard mortgages to individuals and the foreclosure numbers started to creep up, did anyone wonder what all the banks and mortgage companies were going to do with re-possessed houses? Sell them in a soft market for a lesser value than the mortgage being held--since most were almost 100% value mortgages? When the sub-prime collapse occurred, did any of the financial institutions holding mortgages or heavily invested in them wonder if maybe they would be better off keeping people in their houses, letting them pay a fixed mortgage rate thus averting a massive foreclosure situation, putting people out on the street, adding to the ever-growing real estate marketplace woes and their own financial instability--basically cutting their financial noses off to save their faces? Anyone who studies a mortgage agreement can see that the money made by the banks and mortgage companies over the life of a 30-year loan, even at a low, fixed rate, is a lucrative, profitable way to make money. By greedily demanding mortgage payments that had increased decidedly, if they were variable rates, the financial institutions struck a match as they held mortgagees feet to the fire. Unfortunately, for them, they held onto the match too long and were themselves burned. It's a little bit like the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" where the servant in the house gets lazy and likes things being done easily. He thinks of a brilliant idea about how to take care of business without so much effort, so he conjures up some magic and the broom brings buckets and buckets of water--taking care of what needs to be done, but the broom takes on a life of it's own and does not know when to stop and floods the whole house, doing great damage. There's no magic to sound financial principles and their effect. There's also nothing Mickey Mouse about applying them--they never go out of style or on an errand unchecked or unbidden.

And are any of the financial institution executives available to discuss what went wrong and how to prevent a recurrence, or are they too busy packing up their golden parachutes so they can bail out? While we're at it, let's give a big shout out to the SEC and other agencies that are supposed to be watching over the markets and the financial/banking institutions. Oh, and I'd like to ask the folks at AIG in particular how they all just figured out last Sunday (when they should have been in church praying fervently for forgiveness and guidance) that their company was about to do a big old belly flop!

All this pride and greed, arrogant thinking processes, no concern for the little guy (and this country is mostly made up of us little guys who go to work everyday, work hard, earn our pay, pay our taxes, have no hope of or need for a lavish salary or lifestyle and don't feel it is due us), failure to assess the future with simple analytical studies basic to any business school--best case/worst case scenarios, prone-to-believe-their-own-press, making no room at the table for the "older" generation (who lived within their means, without credit cards or loans for anything other than cars or houses, without Blackberries or iPods or iPhones and mostly without a lot of use for the word "I", and who lived through wars and depressions and very difficult times) have brought us to a very steep precipice which is fearsome. Now everyone is wondering why? How did we get here? A little study of the past 20 years will be enlightening and answer those questions. The point, beyond knowing how and why, is to ask what we can do--each of us--to clean up the mess (and it's a complicated mess), plan for a better, more measured future, (perhaps not as flamboyant and full of young Turks who want to make extreme salaries and receive bonuses that are more than the GNP in many Third World nations while proposing "creative" money-making schemes that will line the pockets of American financial institution and send a few coins their way, while they pick the pockets of the average citizen and risk losing their pants in the process). As much as we don't like the idea of our government stepping in and regulating the private sector, when the private sector behaves badly, arrogantly, without consideration for their behavior and in a cavalier and reckless manner, then someone has to be responsible for restoring order and preventing further destruction. If the private sector wants to remain so, it needs to develop some decorum, some manners, some civility, but most of all, it needs to govern itself in a responsible manner that takes into consideration everyone involved, not just the fat cats at the top. Isn't there just a little irony in the fact that the private sector doesn't want government interference...until it needs an $85 billion bail out? Yep. And when major corporations and financial institutions falter and fail, everyone is involved whether they had a say in how things were handled by these entities or not. At least, when the government steps in, we, the people have an opportunity to make our voices heard, become part of the process even if only in a small way. It isn't that I believe our government is run by geniuses at all levels, and we're in good hands like the Allstate ad claims, but it's better than closed meetings, closed minds and the closing of vital and important businesses in our nation.

Let's not play, "I win"...the stakes are too high.