If you believe big media, the economy is in trouble. Every four years when a Republican is president, big media carry stories about economic gloom and doom. But is it true? It depends on the standard you use.
Last week, The Washington Post carried a story that is a metaphor for what ails us. It was about a Maryland couple whose mortgage lender took back what remained of a $95,000 home equity line of credit. The lender explained that the couple?s home had fallen in value and it did not want to shoulder the risk that they might owe more than the house was worth. The couple was using the equity line to pay preschool tuition for their twins.
A good financial adviser might have helped them avoid this predicament. But politicians, especially Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pledge to shoulder the responsibility of making sure that people whose mortgages are higher than they can reasonably afford and whose debts are larger than they should be get bailed out by the rest of us who made right financial decisions and practice living within our means. I know, this sounds cold, but only to those who live this way.
When wantsand needs are confused, desires become entitlements and politicians are afraid to tell people what they need to hear. Instead, they tell them what they want to hear. Anger and envy result, as well as frustration with a political system that was not designed to indulge its citizens in their lusts or subsidize their greed.
The economy isn?t bad. We are bad for believing that more is better and the most is best. The economy is a false god, a golden calf. When this false god doesn?t deliver, we complain to politicians who are happy to accept our faith in them to give us what we want ? if we will only pledge to them our allegiance at election time.
Cal Thomas is America?s most widely syndicated op-ed columnist and an author of 11 books.
