On Christmas eve, 2009 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009, including up to $6 million each to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s chief executives. Contrast this use of funds with Freddie Mac’s 2001 announcement that its second quarter commitments of $42 million would help create nearly 1,000 new affordable rental units in Tennessee, Texas and New York.
There is something fundamentally rotten going on here, and this widespread cancer of greed is eating away the very fabric of our society. How can such outrageous behavior be accepted when people are losing jobs, homes, healthcare and hope?
I’m no financial expert, but anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that this can’t be right. When I worked in industry we found that just about every problem on the factory floor could be traced to a faulty management decision. It is time for us to demand accountability from our government at every level for the faulty decisions that have led us down into this abyss.
The solution is as much spiritual as it is political. We as a country can turn this around, if we go back to the principles established by the founding fathers. This is not the loud, self-righteous and all-too-often hypocritical political correctness that passes itself off as patriotism, but rather individual morality and the values of freedom and justice for all, not just the rich and powerful few.
When Thomas Jefferson said "people get the government they deserve," he echoed a truth expressed by many others back to Aristotle. Benjamin Franklin stated, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
New Years is a time for self-examination, and while it is a daunting task to change the direction of a country, if each of us realigns with our spiritual compass, we can awaken the consciousness of the community to work together for positive change.
--Miriam Knight
