Toxic Assets, Toxic Memories

We've heard plenty about toxic assets, all those devalued loans on the books of banks not to mention the job losses, a stock market in freefall, and the simple pain of never knowing where you'll be financially one day to the next. It's all toxic and it's undermining the morale of this country. Toxic assets have to go for us to move forward.

But behind all this lurks the decisions made by bankers, other financial leaders, and CEO's not to mention members of congress that knowingly or incompetently placed us in this mess. And this has created something else that has to be taken care of. We've got to deal with toxic memories.

Trust in leaders in this country is pretty much scraping bottom. Sure it's not every banker or politician or CEO causing the problem, but you wouldn't have to throw a dead cat very far to hit one. We all know its greed. The amount of money being thrown around would lower the resistance of many people.

But what also makes people angry is that these leaders should have known better, at least according to the compensation they receive. I don't care what the rationale but when someone is making millions of dollars a years that person should have a handle on things. Especially when their decisions are in areas any person would consider no-brainers. If someone is making a thousand dollars a month, it's pretty easy to figure he can't afford a six hundred dollar a month mortgage. And, along with brokers, they should understand that house prices and stock prices don't go to the sky. In cahoots with the lender are the politicians who make laws that let these things happen. Don't forget the carmakers that can't see what kinds of cars to sell. Or those golden parachutes for people who have driven companies into the ground. And then there are the Madoffs and their ilk that cut the legs out from under everyone they touch but can't be stopped by impotent regulators.

No need to go on. These, however, are the toxic memories that the American public must get rid of to help this country get stronger. Capitalism is great but we've had a hard lesson in its flaws. We can't just paper them over. Better times will alleviate some of the negative attitudes but what lingers could be destructive.

We want people to be able to make all the money they can but distrust could place onerous rules on top of entrepreneurship. People may become too conservative with their money or may lean toward protectionism. Innovation could suffer. But just saying we mustn't let these happen isn't enough. Things, well designed things, need to be done so that the public has confidence the marketplace and the government aren't rigged against it.

How? Good question. We can tick off ideas such as some regulation, diligence on the part of voters and shareholders, a sense that we're a society not just individual companies and political districts, and some kind of punishment for wrongdoers, but it won't be easy.

Somehow, though, we need to deal with these toxic memories and not just bury them in the next economic recovery. Toxic memories aren't going away, but their toxicity must. The public can't be just ignored, their concerns subsumed under the tired idea that those in power know better. We've been taught a lesson, for some devastatingly, but it should spur us to a self-examination that results in changes that make us all partners in progress.