MrRoundel

Personal Responsibility and the Housing Bubble

The media is responsible to the extent that they will write anything in order to make a buck. For them it's about survival. They have no greater purpose outside of profit, like most corporations. It's people that have a big problem with what is, but should not be, a blurry line between what they need and what they want. Avarice, greed, covetous of things material, the people move towards accumulation of bigger cars, bigger houses, better spouses, in order to feel that they've somehow "arrived". Unfortunately, when so many keep their eyes on the same prize, to the possible discount and detriment of most else, they will do what they have to do to attain things. Debt is a small price to pay for the ultimate gratification.
Since the eighties it's been a commonly held belief in America, that success was judged by how much debt you had. Today, people might feel a little differently. This belief has now morphed into something more like success is judged by how much debt you had, how much crap you purchased through debt, and how much risk you transferred to the bank through non-recourse loans.
Madison Ave. is to blame because they facilitate a society that continues to be a market-driven nightmare, where modern marketing's mission is to "create demand". In times past, entrepreneurs generally identified a demand and figured out a way to supply it, or at least supply it better or for less. Today, demand is created in America more than anything else. Modern often entrepreneurs "create" something of questionable value, or figure a better way to market, come up with a catchy name, etc. to better sell some existing product. Case in point- the 70's' TigerRag(Chamois-like) to "Sham-wow". The best one yet, IMHO, is HDTV. I mean, come on, who the heck really needed a clearer T.V. picture than they had a few years ago? People pay thousands of dollars for a technology that they're being forced into with the help of the U.S. government (Digital TV mandate), and they go singing to the economic gallows of debt. Here is a product that was not good enough, on its own merits, to prompt people to part with money, or take on debt, for. Somehow the Fed's get involved and virtually mandates the technological change to a better picture for the masses.
The market-driven internet, rife with new technologies to track what people are looking at, more obnoxious but stimulating ads placed in every blinking nook and cranny is a prime offender in the needs v. wants confusion. Where it can be seen by human eyes, advertise. If they don't notice it, make it blink, or find a better way to assault the senses to force recognition not previous granted. There's getting to be little escape from it. But, that's another story/rant for another time.
The American people need to "re-recognize" the difference between what they need and what they want. America's companies must then go back to satisfying needs, not creating the weak perception of needs and confusing them with wants. If we do this, things will then get better by steady increments. A return to rational living, a return to reasonable expectations, a return to satisfaction. A return to success.