This is an article that all Americans should read. Though it is a bit a long, it shows the way the world looks upon the US: The arrogant that has fallen, and can't get up.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,581502-2,00.html
Granted, it is a point of view by writer who is clearly socialist, but that does not take away the fact that we (yes WE) have given him the fodder for this.
Let's not be coy. The economic fiasco that we find ourselves in is not Bush's fault. I don't like President Bush anymore than you do, but to believe that his administration caused this, is quite frankly, ignorant. Neither is this banking blunder a failure of capitalism, nor should we jump on the European socialist bandwagon at once. This situation has aroused from a something I like to call fiscal socialism: When the government started intervening with the private sector, ignoring the rules of deregulation and telling banks how to run their business. Look no further than the Community Reinvestment act of 1995. It was a way for Washington to force banks into approving mortgage loans for people that otherwise would not have been approved.
In other words, to help "the less fortunate" get a house. The problem with that ideology was that the people that really caused the problem were not the folks that were truly in need. It was another example of the government rewarding (again) laziness and irresponsibility. The unreasonably greedy that got in way over their heads into loans that they knew, they knew, they could not afford. And there you have it: The birth of the infamous real estate bubble. Though admittedly this is much simplified, you get the gist of it. - Feel free to look it up in any search engine. - Do not misunderstand me, I do not think, not for a second, that being greedy is always bad. However, greed without a code of ethics, a set of core business values, is damn near criminal. There is no shame in wanting to benefit from fair trade and the effort of your labor. As long as there is fairness (equivalency) in the trade and it is YOUR labor, not the abuse of another's labor or ideas. It is after all the American way. Wasn't there a dream that we kept hearing about? Where did that go? We are supposed to be the greatest Capitalist nation in the world. We have never been a country of lazy aristocrats, and abhorred the ideals of Communism, but we have become a society that no longer praises hard work and success. We dwell on what [more] we should have, instead of on how we can achieve it. As I write this, I realize that perhaps thanks to the stupidity we have collectively reached, we deserve to be punished. We deserve socialism.
We deserve to be written about and talked about the way that the above mentioned Deutsche reporter has. For today. But I don't intend to keep it that way. I intend to do what little I can do. I intend to continue to do the best job I know how. I intend to continue to invest my money in this country. I intend to pay attention to what happens around me, and I intend to vote according to what I know is best for my country. And I intend to this not help out a Republican nincompoop or an amateur Democrat, but for me, my family and my kids. I want my kids to grow up in a world where they can travel abroad, without fear of foreign umbrage and proudly say: "Yeah, I'm American. How're you doing?"
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