[Porsche-O-Phile]

Maybe I'm the crazy one, but I think honesty - brutal honesty - should trump all other considerations in overall economic policy. That's just me, but if irresponsible people want to make stupid choices, the only way - the ONLY way - they're ever going to learn is if they are forced to deal with the consequences of them. This is the ONLY way we're ever going to be collectively smarter as a society and instill truly sustainable ways of thinking into people.

This is the reason I'm so passionately adamant about this issue - I see NOTHING in the recent housing markets other than absolute stupidity, greed run amok, etc. and now everyone is running for cover and trying to get funky with numbers, rules, reporting methods, etc. in order to duck the consequences. This is the SAME core difference that divides conservatives and liberals on so many other issues - the notion of "accountability". Call it that, or call it "tough love" or call it "brutal honesty" or call it "dealing with the consequences". Heck, you can even call it "being a mean evil d1ck" (like a lot of the people who love to try to duck it might call it). The fact of the matter is that the ONLY thing that gets through to people is consequences.

I have a favorite saying that I use a lot at work, "good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment". This is a way of saying that mistakes are not bad in and of themselves, but they only benefit us if we learn from them. And the only way we're going to learn from them is if we get our hands slapped when we screw up.

Personally, if the outcome of the stupidity of the last few years is a full-blown depression, I'd actually prefer that to the mamby-pamby, dishonest B.S. that's being spun onto the public right now from government, financial institutions, etc. We made our beds - we should lie in them to make damn sure we don't end up in the same situation again.

I think it'd be a really interesting discussion to have as to whether the current-day mindset of "do whatever you want without consequence" is a cause or an effect of having a "manipulated" economy for the last 80-or-so years and no resulting major Depression/failure. Yes, the Great Depression was brutal, but there weren't a helluva lot of irresponsible doofuses running around afterwards - because people had the scars. They remembered. And they made responsible choices. And life was good.

Sorry, but we can't keep coddling the stupid and expect responsible/sustainable philosophies to emerge. You just can't teach that. I'm a believer in the lessons of the University of Hard Knocks.