Miles's blog

NBC Nightly News last night reported on a poll done by the Pew Research Center which asked people in the middle class (I am not sure how this was defined or determined) who they blamed for the financial problems of the middle class.  Not surprisingly, the answers were everyone but themselves.

Congress got most of the blame.  Sixty-two percent of respondents blamed Congress “a lot.”  Banks got a hefty dose of blame, 54 percent, as did large corporations, 47 percent.  Former President Bush’s administration bore the blame of 44 percent, compared to Obama’s 34 percent.  “Foreign competition” was held a lot responsible by 39 percent.  And way down on the bottom of the list, almost invisible, was the middle class itself with only eight percent.  That’s right, when people look to blame someone for their problems they look everywhere but in the mirror. 

It is always easy to blame politicians and the government for problems, although I am not sure if people can be very specific about how, exactly, Congress has caused the financial mess.  Too many taxes?  Too few programs?  Insufficient regulation of the financial services industry or too much government intervention into business?  I bet those polled would not be consistent about why they blame the government.

Similarly, have  banks and big companies outsourced too many jobs?  Perhaps they charge too high prices.  Or maybe they don’t pay enough taxes.  Did they give out too many mortgages, or foreclose too often?  Did the bailout salvage companies which should have been allowed to go under?

Far too often the media, and by extension most people, search for someone to blame when bad things happen.  When Hurricane Katrina caused massive destruction and loss of life, it was not the result of a random and unpredictable meteorological event, but the fault of the Army Corps of Engineers.  And, like the media, the fault never lies in ourselves, it is always in our stars.  I don’t know if this is human nature, or the product of a Dr. Spock society which believes the answer to gangs is enhanced self-esteems.  Whatever the reason, as far as I am concerned, unless the middle class, and everyone else, decides to alter their behavior as a result of taking some responsibility, I doubt these problems can be solved.

It was not the government which forced people to try to exploit the rise in housing prices by buying massive homes, filling them with overpriced furniture and expensive toys, and then continually refinancing their mortgages to gain more favorable interest rates in order to increase their disposable income.  Big banks did not discourage Americans from setting aside even the most minimal amount necessary for retirement.  Big corporations did not seduce Americans into spending far more than they earn, putting charge after charge on their credit cards.  While the credit card companies did exacerbate the problem by increasing credit lines and encouraging account switching with low initial rates, almost nobody had a gun to their head when buying a new Playstation or adding channels to their DirecTV.

There is plenty enough blame all around, but for these poll respondents to ascribe so little to themselves and so much to others reflects a worldview that plays into the politics of hate, fear, and divisiveness.  That is why we have commercials where former Obama voters are now disillusioned.  They thought one man, albeit the most powerful man in the world, would save the day.  The idea that the cause of these economic problems runs deep, and that solutions will require not only government action but individual sacrifice, seems alien to the national debate. 

I doubt my parents’ generation would have laid the blame to such a great extent on others.  They had lived through the Depression and certainly realized macroeconomic factors generated that catastrophe, but emerging from the Depression, they accepted that the greatest protection for individuals and families came from the individuals and families.  Excessive credit, living beyond their means, even credit cards themselves, were seen as problematic if not unwise.  They did buy houses with mortgages, but they often lived in those houses for decades, driving old cars, wearing old clothes, and indulging their spoiled children.  These children grew up in the 80s “Me decade” practicing that excess is never enough.  So much of their money went to expensive clothes, fancy vacations, fast cars, online gambling, and drugs.

So now that the children of these children are facing an uncertain future, but one which appears more bleak than their parents’ past, someone has to take the blame.  Bush, Obama, JP Morgan Chase, Chinese workers, Obstructionist Republicans, and Liberal Democrats, can all suffice as scapegoat.  After all, whatever happens, it is never our fault.