frustration Friday

Frustration Friday: Fear Itself

by

I spent a lot of Frustration Friday's ragging on the people that brought us our current financial meltdown and assorted other economic and business incompetencies.  I don't think I can be blamed for it, and if you do blame me for it, I probably don't care anyway.

But I want to turn it down a notch for a moment to talk about something related to the subject of "morons that helped the economic meltdown."

I think they're afraid.

Let's take a look at the average person involved in loan scamming, weird investment foofaraw, and in general people who've run their business (or the economy) into the ground.  I'm guessing that despite their other negative traits, they've got to have an inkling, however repressed, that they've done some massively stupid things that screwed the world up.  It may be no more than a scintillating spark of tepid regret, but it's probably there.

Now, let us consider how these people must feel when that twinge of guilt and realization hits them, if only for a mere moment of ironic introspection.

They must feel afraid.

What do you do when, down deep, you know that you helped screw up the lives of millions?  Of billions?

What do you do when you realize, if only for a searing split second, that you are responsible for the horrors you see in the news?

What do you do when you realize, before you repress it, that those people yelling on the news are yelling at you.

Simple.  You've got to feel afraid.  Not even a specific fear, just the general horrible fear that everything has gone to hell, you're one of the responsible parties, and you have no solution.  It's the fear of failure, of retribution, of unsurety, of disgrace, and more all roled into one painful pill to swallow.

So, I'm not calling for us to all pity the politicians, pundits, and scam artists who got us into this mess.  But I am noting that it might be easier to deal with our economic problems and the Great Recession's fallout if we remember that some of the folks that got us into this are probably terrified of what they've done.

After all when you're scared you can face it, or you can avoid it.  What kind of tactics are we seeing right now . . .

– Steven Savage

Frustration Friday: Desperately Seeking Lex Luthor

by

One thing that plagues our culture and consciousness, derived from a devilish mix of popular culture and paranoid polemics of the past is the belief that Some Vast Competent Conspiracy is responsible for our problems.  Too many people believe, even if they won't admit it, that all our problems are due to some well-organized conspiracy running all things.

Sorry, we should be so lucky.

We lack Lex Luthor.  We're denied Doctor Doom.  We're sans Sinestro.  When you watch things that go wrong with the world, such as . . . I dunno, the Fraudclosure mess . . . you don't need supervillains and constant conspiracies to explain them.  In fact, if our world was run by secret brilliant conspirators they'd probably do a hell of a lot better.

Here's what you need to know – greedy people with issues manipulate gritty STUPID people with issues.  That's it.  That's all you need to know about most of the pain, suffering, and stupidities in the world.

So look, yes conspiracies are fun in fiction, but frankly most ideas about them are ridiculous.  They distract us from real issues – and from how easily people are manipulated by people that aren't like Sephiroth, The Leader, or Darth Vader.  We get too busy looking for conspiracies and miss what's right in front of our face.

If you're going to face the economic issues of the day, the job issues of the day, you'll be well served by abandoning the idea that anything relating to vast, conspiratorial competence runs the world.  Greed, stupidity, ignorance, and pathology explain quite enough thank you.

Remember.  If Lex Luthor was real, you'd probably have an easier time finding a job.  At least Luthorcorp would be hiring.

– Steven Savage

Frustration Friday: Fraudclosure Focus

by

We've entered a fascinating new phase of the Great Recession, differing from those stale, dull times where the world economy teetered on the brink of meltdown.  This fresh-faced new phase of the slow-mo Keystone Kop disaster is the "Fraudclosure" one.  Instead of Banks just failing and a solid recession and semi-systematic unemployment, we have something new – all those mortgages bundled up in investments are a wee bit hard to foreclose on because of bad record keeping, fraud, and general incompetence.

Yep, first too many mortgages with questionable terms, and now that everyone wonders where their money has gone, no one is actually sure who to foreclose on legitimately.  Illegitimately of course we're seeing some foreclosures, and that's making news enough to slap people in the face with the fact the bungling bureaucratic banker meltdown isn't done yet.

I could rant about the people behind this mess, about the need for better laws, and of course the need for jail time.  But instead I'd like to rant on the fact some people are ignoring this.

You can't ignore something like this because it is going to affect your career.  This is big.  Just as big as the  . . . last banking disaster.

First, you can't ignore it because this kind of messed-up maelstrom of monetary malfeasance can suck all of us into another recession.  It doesn't matter if you don't have a house and don't work in banking, this is a case of people not knowing who owns what among a lot of questionable investments.  That kind of destroys confidence in the economy and institutions involved in the economy – and if it turns out this lack of confidence is warranted and a lot of mortage-backed investments are total messes and no one knows who owns what, it could be a disaster for the global economy.

Secondly, even if the economy doesn't melt down, if you don't working banking, you may find it affects you negatively.  A bank that melts down doesn't purchase new hardware, doesn't hire ad agencies, doesn't hire IT gurus – in short, doesn't put money into the economy where you may work.  A bank that melts down may also mean your money goes into limbo and you're dealing with the FDIC.

Third, you don't have any direct work with banking, you may find you're doing peripheral work.  A company providing hardware to a bank may be being your company's microchips, a bank may be providing benefits through the insurance company you work for, etc. 

Fourth, if you end up needing loans, refinancing, etc. another bank crisis is going to make it pretty bloody hard on you to put the cash into your stash.  When banks are busy trying to find out if they actually own what they thought they did, they're going to be a might distracted. This also slows down other people launching businesses, of course.

Fifth, if you work in law . . . put on your party hat.  I've already heard the "Fraudclosure" mess called the Lawyer Full Employment Act.  Go get 'em legal eagles.

So pay attention.  This is not abstract and distant and boring, this is the economy and your life.

Also it gave us the cool term "Fraudclosure."  Really, go on and use it . . .

– Steven Savage