There is more than enough blame to go around for the current U.S. economic crisis, and we won’t solve the crisis until we face our ego problem.

We have an ego problem in a President of the United States who can’t/won’t go to the American People with a giant Mea Culpa, acknowledging that his administration took its eye off the ball for a long time.

We have an ego problem in a Treasury Secretary who can spend hours and days trying to broker a deal with Congress, but can’t take the time to explain directly to the American People EXACTLY and THOROUGHLY what the problem is with our financial markets.

We have an ego problem in corporate leaders on Wall Street who would rather allow their companies to go bust than resign or take a major pay cut to demonstrate solidarity with the American People who might ultimately keep them solvent.

We have an ego problem in Congressional Republicans who would risk the fortunes of their constituents simply to score a political point.

We have an ego problem in Congressional Democrats who would risk the fortunes of their constituents simply to score a political point.

>We have an ego problem in a news media that would rather do sound bites than find and devote airtime to objective economists who might explain how all of our markets actually work (or don’t work).

We have an ego problem in Main street business people who can’t own up to the fact that they have friends and cronies who made tons of money from real estate and mortgage broker commissions, all the while knowing much of that activity was based on fraud.

We have an ego problem in everyday Americans who continue to blame Wall Street for the mess but know plenty of people who took out mortgages for which they didn’t qualify.

And finally we have an ego problem in American citizens who don’t want to think too hard about anything but won’t acknowledge that there might be experts out there to whom they should actually listen.

We better fix our ego problem!Economic Crisis—We Have an Ego Problem Here](/science-society/2008/09/30/ego-problem/)

Written by Bruce R. Copeland on September 30, 2008

Tags: economics, ego, fraud, main street, mortgage, real estate, sound bite, wall street

There is more than enough blame to go around for the current U.S. economic crisis, and we won’t solve the crisis until we face our ego problem.

We have an ego problem in a President of the United States who can’t/won’t go to the American People with a giant Mea Culpa, acknowledging that his administration took its eye off the ball for a long time.

We have an ego problem in a Treasury Secretary who can spend hours and days trying to broker a deal with Congress, but can’t take the time to explain directly to the American People EXACTLY and THOROUGHLY what the problem is with our financial markets.

We have an ego problem in corporate leaders on Wall Street who would rather allow their companies to go bust than resign or take a major pay cut to demonstrate solidarity with the American People who might ultimately keep them solvent.

We have an ego problem in Congressional Republicans who would risk the fortunes of their constituents simply to score a political point.

We have an ego problem in Congressional Democrats who would risk the fortunes of their constituents simply to score a political point.

We have an ego problem in a news media that would rather do sound bites than find and devote airtime to objective economists who might explain how all of our markets actually work (or don’t work).

We have an ego problem in Main street business people who can’t own up to the fact that they have friends and cronies who made tons of money from real estate and mortgage broker commissions, all the while knowing much of that activity was based on fraud.

We have an ego problem in everyday Americans who continue to blame Wall Street for the mess but know plenty of people who took out mortgages for which they didn’t qualify.

And finally we have an ego problem in American citizens who don’t want to think too hard about anything but won’t acknowledge that there might be experts out there to whom they should actually listen.

We better fix our ego problem!