If you want to know why gas prices are affecting every American family, then look no further than the government and business decisions that were made post 9/11 and the collapse of the housing market. 9/11 may have been beyond our control, but the current recession can partly be blamed on Americans enormous appetite for overproduction and over consumption.
The aftereffects of 9/11 immediately after the twin towers fell was one of fear and uncertainty. Wall Street, already reeling from the Internet and stock market bubbles, shut down for almost a week after the terrorist attacks. When it opened back up, it had the worst trading day since the attacks. The terrorist planes had not only physically pierced the World Trade Centers, but metaphorically Wall Street itself. This sent a ripple effect to many industries like finance, travel, entertainment, and manufacturing. When Fortune 500 stocks began to take a nosedive, these companies began hemorrhaging cash, and began massive layoffs and outsourcing to other countries for cheaper labor to slow the leaks. To make matters worse, some parents had to see their kids go fight the terror-mongers in the Middle East due to the Administration's immediate reaction to attack Iraq & Afghanistan and protect our beloved oil interests abroad.
American families that were used to good income had to adjust their 2-income families to one income, or no income, sending their lifestyle into a dramatic tailspin. Many families had to wake up and realize they needed to downgrade their lifestyle by getting a cheaper mortgage or downgrade their gas guzzling Hummers to MPG friendly cars - but many families did not do that because that is not the American way. The American mantra is to get MORE, not less. So what solution could meet those extravagant needs and maintain their current lifestyle? Borrow money from 401k's, max-out credit cards, and leverage house equity through ARMs and subprime mortgages.
A large part of the housing crises is due to people overreaching their credit limits and their monthly income to stay afloat or try to get ahead. The American dream badgers us daily in advertisements to attain bigger homes, better cars, and beautiful shiny things so we can project our success. We have to get it by any means necessary, right? Families that were caught in the subprime mortgage web were easily enticed by slick talking bankers and brokers into deals that were too good to be true: $500,000 ARM mortgages with $2000 a month payments with a credit score of 600 and no documentation of income would entice any family to move up the social status ladder. These kind of mortgages were commonplace and put people who might not have afforded it in regular circumstances in better neighborhoods, better shopping plazas, and better school districts.
If we play the victim, it is to our own conditioning from American society to be consumers, not savers - good producers, but not good stewards. Familiar profiles of the victims were middle-class families that lived in suburbia and were trying to keep up with their neighbors, or working-class families that were trying to refinance their mortgage so they could lower their payments and pay off a few credit cards that were used to buy stuff they knew they couldn't afford to begin with. Those families who made risky financial decisions due to necessity or taking a gamble on future economic prosperity are still guilty of making the choices that put them in worse circumstances. Their choices made other victims - displaced tenants and children, highly devalued neighborhoods and properties, tighter mortgage rules for new borrowers, loss of employment in the banking & mortgage industry, the list goes on.
Looking back seven years ago, I feel we quickly began losing our footing with the world after 9/11/01 because of the inflated prices of businesses (remember Enron?) and some real estate markets, like South Florida. China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Russia, and other developing nations seem to be gaining ground on us, but God has not left us, forsaken us, or relinquished any less favor on us. Only the right knowledge for the right situation, in the right environment at the right time can help us implement better choices. As a nation, we can make better choices when we have more knowledge, and time has revealed how many mistakes our leadership in government, business, and our own families has made, and I can pinpoint one main wicked principality: greed.
I cannot say whether it is our own fault that we were attacked so radically by an outsider, because there is no justification for taking innocent people's lives. I cannot say that every family that has been foreclosed on was at fault, because there are a lot of factors besides borrowing too much money that have lead to families losing homes. But I can say as an American we have reaped whatever we have sown and in spite of it all, we are still blessed by God's grace to be in as good a shape as we are in compared with the rest of the world.
