Interesting thoughts...

On the fear of doing nothing in the current economy...

A lot of our economic troubles could be solved if we could just keep our emotions in check. Seriously. It seems that fear, greed and the thirst for power have swept the country like an airborne virus. The fear of doing nothing rules the day -- not logic, not study, not knowledge or analysis. Certainly not patience. Our leaders, whoever they are, are acting like third grade schoolchildren who have been told by their teacher that a snake is loose in the room. And by the way, wouldn't you like to know who that teacher is? Who is in charge?

Honestly I believe our financial crisis is, at its core, a spiritual and moral crisis, the markets reacting to the weirdness of a culture obsessed with wealth, consumerism, and bereft of the historical moral precepts that normally would have kept some of this in check. People have no idea what is right or wrong, they have only their possessions and their ledgers to help them make sense of things and these are very fallible guides. Jesus is right, we have gained the whole world and lost our own soul, and remarkably because of it we seem to be losing the whole world as well.

I think we have two choices. The first is the one the government seems to be taking, pumping money into the very structures that have failed in the hope that if they have more they will do better. The hope seems to be that if you give a thief enough money they'll stop stealing. The other is to come to terms with the moral, social, and spiritual insanity of our culture, and take steps to abandon it in favor of those principles of human life that have stood the test of time. We can print as much cash as we want but what is truly in short supply is common sense, humble hearts, and people who realize they're not gods.