Unity is all it takes

There is great deal of media chatter going on about the recent suspension of foreclosures by the biggest banks in the country. For the most part all the ‘biggies’ have suspended all foreclosure activities in all 50 states. I think every state attorney general is a bit peeved at the financial community. This action was precipitated by the discovery of less-than-thorough conduct on behalf of over-worked and more than likely, less than qualified staff. In conjunction with all the other bank news’ over the past two years, the nations banking community has a permanent reputation as being a primary player in the destruction of our great country.

If indeed every banker in the country is a fraudster and con artist then why are they still in business? Why don’t we simply scalpel them right off the face of the earth and remove this infectious parasite? As opposed to continuing to enable their existence. Let’s not stop there, let’s head to Wall Street. Aren’t they in the same classification and deserve removal? Did you know, in a latest poll, Wall Street executives are expecting a bigger bonus this year than last? Doesn’t that just make your blood boil? These guys are going to receive another bonus when the people whose lives they destroyed are homeless and suicidal? What gives? Why is this happening?

Well, it will continue to happen, again and again, from generation to generation. Why? Because we continue to participate in their little game!!! Hello!

It takes money to make money. Can we all agree to that, at least as it pertain to banking institutions and Wall Street? Well, then you also have to agree with the fact that these institutions don’t really ‘produce’ anything tangible, they simply collect and/or create new paper and then pass it back and forth. But in all reality they don’t produce anything you can feel, touch, see or smell. So what is the real reason these people can garner so much profit and wealth when they don’t provide anything tangible that will improve comfort or sustain life? If there are no raw materials and machinery to produce such abundance then what is their resource? Ok, they produce money which provides the means to 'purchase' something for comfort or sustain life, I get that. But by whose monetary resource are they using to produce their product; the money?

It’s our money!!!!!!!!!!!! We feed the machine. Without us there is no banks. No Wall Street. Cut off the food supply and you destroy the animal. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Quit using the banks? Pull every dime you have in your accounts and on Wall Street and put it in a home safe? Is that the message here? No, no, no. That would be catastrophic: Financial collapse and hundreds of thousands of people out of work. Not a good idea and ill-advised. We need them to sustain what we have built. The products and services they provide are vital to our economy. Let’s keep them, but let’s work with them, work with what they have to offer, let’s just not do it the way they have been teaching us and in their own minds believe they are doing right by us. And they truly believe they are doing right by us. But lets not crucify them during these troubled times. Let’s not just point the finger and blame the ugly monster for our troubles. We are just as culpable as they are. We, the consumer base of this country are guilty of laziness, apathy and complacency. These character defects are as much to blame for this mess as the financial institutions themselves. Let's practice a little humility and account for our part, but in the same breath commit to changing our bad habits.

The point I want to get to is to soften the vilification of the banking community. I really don’t believe ‘these people’ are intentionally trying to destroy us. I believe everything that has happened over the past few years within the financial castle’s of our country have simply brought to light the realization that the current business model is broken. Bottom line; it is a failed business model. The model has become too big, too convoluted, too greedy, controlled by an under educated staff and directed by visionless, non-entrepreneurial bean-counters. The model is failing and it could be easily redirected if there were people who had an interest and a vision for change. Those people don’t exist in the corridors in which they should. Those who run our financial institutions are just following the herd too. They’re just running in a different herd and are following a trail that has been in existence for decades.

Why should we expect anything new from them?

Here is the real issue at hand: it’s a one way relationship with no reciprocation. This is causing the imbalance. They get more out of us then we get from them. News flash: Free checks, online banking and cookies at the teller window DO NOT constitute a mutually beneficial relationship. And the fear that we are all facing is because our side of the scale, the one all we consumers are sitting on is about to bottom out. Once we hit the bottom there is no place else to go; we’re done. We’ll be sitting in our bottomed-out dish looking up at the institutional side of the scale and watching them having a grand old time counting, spending and investing all of the money we supplied them through deposits, interest and fees. Unfortunately, what they don’t see and the consumers don’t realize is that when the consumer side of the scale bottoms out there won’t be anything left to give to the other side. Unless some of that wealth is transferred back to the consumer we will all perish eventually. That’s what our country’s financial business model has produced; a one-way ticket to becoming a third world country. The ONLY way to stop it is the shift the imbalnced financial weight of each respective dish of the scale.

WE (the collective community of American citizenery) can change the financial landscape of this country because we are the shoulders by which the economy rests. Try this; stand in the middle of the room, send your shoulders to one wall and your legs to another. Succeed? Of course not, without unity and balanced alignment between all compnents there is no moving forward. Well, this is exactly what is happening in this relationship we have with the financial institutions of this country. There is no unified effort to move forward because the current model requires a winner and a loser. The winner has us to beleive current practice is in our best interest and actually has the majority feeling like their lives are improved because of the relationship. The loser, you and me, blindly follow along and perpetuate the imbalnce of the financial scales. We will always be on the losing side becasue we continually succumb to the winners insatiable need for more of our resources. And as we continue to be the ultimate enablers to their addiction we will continue to weaken under their strain. There is no mutually beneficial exchange going on between us. This has to change if we expect future generations to enjoy life as it was intended.

Change will come from the bottom up; from the consumer base that feeds this financial machine. Change will occur when there is a commitment to a new direction in financial education and consumerism. Change only occurs when there is a real desire to alter the current path. If that desire exists then analysis and investigation come next. Analysis of the current model; is it really working for you or us as a country? Just because it is the only model you have ever functioned with in, just because you are comfortable with the current model that doesn’t directly translate into being the right one. Investigating other options outside and within the current model needs to take place. Thorough analysis of the discovery must be conducted. The results of analysis must be viewed and assimilated through a clear lens; “yea, but” rebuttals can not be part of the decision process. The numbers and the results, at ALL levels for all participants must be the determining factor. Through this process you might ultimately discover the truth in what I am saying here; the imbalanced relationship you voluntarily participate in with your financial institution is indeed the predominate component dictating the outcome of your financial future.

Only after implementation and long term execution of a new, more efficient model will the results reveal the benefits of change. It might be difficult to start because it takes effort and enduring the discomfort of change, but in the end the ship will alter its path and set a course that benefits all parties. Now, if you multiply your individual results under the current model by hundreds of thousands of American citizens just like you, you will quickly understand why the financial balance of power, at the street level is so institutionally dominate and our position of strength is about as weak as you can get. That balance of power needs to, has to shift if we are to right this ship and get on a course of mutual and equal financial footing.

From this balanced position of coexistence we become unified in our direction. We become unified in the division and use of resources. Unity in practice, and practical application of efficient means and methods will eliminate this hierarchical tree of wealth, power and financial prowess and bring this country back to the dream our forefathers had when they gave us this great republic.

The balance of power can shift. We can coexist on a balanced foundation. WE THE PEOPLE currently possess and control the power to facilitate change. We just need to recognize it and use it, not to stick it to the 'evil empire', but unify the community as a whole. Let’s not quit because it’s too hard or too uncomfortable. Let’s act upon our desire to change. Let’s make a commitment to the generations to follow. The balance of power can shift; it has to. Unity and community is all it takes.

The Truth is in the Proof!