You're a sucker until you aren't

Somewhere between the day you barreled out of your mother's overused girly parts and the time a non-related person gave a shit about your existence, you were probably told that you were important over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.  Anyone who told you otherwise was an insensitive, judgmental, and biased racist.

You never bothered asking why you were told these things.  You just accepted them because they made you feel good.  You got used to the concept of feeling good and you would do whatever it took to continue feeling good because, after all, you are special, so you want to feel special because, after all, you are special, and you want to feel special because... etc.

As it turns out, in this world, everything is monetized.  If you want to feel good, you have to pay someone.  And if you don't have the money?  No problem!  Cash in with your future labor!  Buy shit now and pay for it later!  After all, you're special, and you deserve it now!

Your idea of fiscal soundness

We tried to tell you it was a sham, over and over and over again.  You just called us conspiracy theorists.  Now, in 2011, there is a good chance a few of you have been displaced from your homes, lost a long-term job, are being hounded by collectors, and are nearing the end of social safety net services.  It's getting gradually more grim and only going to get worse.  How long will you play the shell game and how many more people will you involve until it all falls down?

Like you even care.  You don't.  You're special, first and foremost, and preserving that self-image is the most important concept to preserve.
The political narrative is already crafting itself to adjust to your vision:
Greed is the problem!

No, greed is an impulse.  Feeling greedy means you act on that greed.  Acting on that greed doesn't guaranteed the greed is satisfied.  Just because a bunch of powerful bankers who are not allowed to be named were the architects of a predatory lending bubble designed to rob you blind doesn't mean it's going to work.

It takes suckers.  Lots of suckers.  Lots and lots and lots of suckers.  An entire continent full of suckers.  Several continents full of suckers.

I don't blame the greedy for 2008.  The greedy are predictable.  You know they are going to try to rob you.  I blame everyone who thought otherwise.  I leave you with these words that were spoken ninety-one years ago:

"The first wave of attack is to corrupt Collective Opinion. Now, to "corrupt" in the real sense does not mean anything unsavory or unclean. The whole power of every heresy is its attractiveness to the good mind. The whole explanation of the strong hold which untruth has gained upon the world of our day, is that the untruth is reasonable, inspiring and apparently good. It is only after a long discipline in false ideals — which are reasonable, inspiring and good — that the evil fruits appear in acts and conditions which are unreasonable, destructive and wholly evil. If you will trace the idea of Liberty as it has appeared in Russian history, from its philosophic beginning (a Jewish beginning, by the way) to its present ending (a Jewish ending also), you will see the process." ~Henry Ford, 1920

Can you break your conditioning long enough to examine the history of finance for exactly as it occurred or are you still scared of the lash?