The Cultural Dimension of Debt

In the past decade, the global economy has seen radical shifts in financial performance
and commercial standing of many of the worlds leading economies. Some progressive and
powerhouse players on the world stage were imagined by many to lead the human civilization
into a new era of prosperity advancement and economic stability. To the shock of many,
some of them ended up facing some of the worst if not the worst decline in their history.
Financial experts and economists are still divided as to the direct and unambiguous cause as
to the meltdown suffered by economies like the United States and Greece. Seldom is the
socio cultural element even considered.

The lesson of the past is clear that the rise and fall of great civilizations are in part due
to cultural shifts and social transformation. When the US economy suffered one of its worst
slumps in its history, the question of consumer behavior was not significantly considered. In
turn behavior of individuals is largely attributed to the culture that they are oriented in. The
capitalist mentality in many progressive countries often runs unchecked and leads societies to
cause the decline of their own wealthy system. It might be asked did they knowingly do this.
In many cases, they did not. Rather, a viable thesis is that they were induced to such an end.

The fundamental flaw on the socio cultural level of wealthy, and capitalist countries
is that it allows greed to roam unchecked. What does this mean? It allows individuals and
groups to pursue financial gain at all cost. This is coupled by the erroneous culture that
material gain is the defining characteristic of modern and civilized way of life. Being affluent
is not bad but when one miscalculates the reach of his or her wealth, this is when people start
overspending to the point that they acquire debt recklessly. This debt in many cases escalates
to the point that it becomes a problem of the state. The authorities end up being pressured to
bail out these bad debts. This is at the cost of its own economic stability and continuity.

Another danger in the modern and once strong economies is the virtual absolute
absence of control on commercial establishments. They in turn become prone to abusing the
consuming public all for the love of profit. The select few who often are in control of
corporations pursue policies to enrich themselves at the cost of others. There is the case of
Enron where the company executives acquired significant bonuses despite the fact that the
company was losing money. This rampant deification of greed coupled with the
institutionalization of the excessive acquisition of property lies at the root of the US recession
and the growing instability of the Eurozone.

An example set by rich but consistently stable economies is that their people, society
and culture are pegged on values, which are not materialistic, and they reject greed. The
decadence in terms of culture in many modern societies often translates to economic
instability and financial decay on a scale that is unheard of before. This is something that
needs to be addressed for these deteriorating economies to truly recover.


SAMPLE ARTICLE PSTordilla*11-12-2011