Published: September 23, 2008 04:26 pm      

My Hometown

What's right got to do with it?

PICAYUNE — Can you feel it? The anger in the air? The frustration of the people of America as we watch the meltdown of our financial markets? And why are we so angry? We have been let down by those in control. Instead of protecting the weak, much of our government and financial leaders have been loading up their wheelbarrows with cash.

I have seen this storm brewing and believe me, I am no money expert, but my stint in real estate revealed much of the craziness in the mortgage business. When you see people buying a house that can not even get a used car loan, then you know there is something stinky in the pot.

Just as all insurance agents got a bad rap with Katrina, the loan officer at the bank might get a few sour looks in church on Sunday. Is it his or her fault his bank was forced to give risky loans to risky clients because of the pressure to make the American Dream available to all citizens? Is it his or her fault that loan companies initialize the mortgage setup and then sell the loan to a government bred Fannie or Freddie? Thereby, making their money, and handing off the junk mortgage, growing the bubble. The bubble has busted!

Fear is running amuck! Where are the ethical people in the world? Why do the top executives who allow this to happen walk away with their wheelbarrow of money?

Has right gone out the window? When we look around are all the bad people making money on the backs of hard working good people?

When I was able to direct a househunter to a loan person, I had my short list of reputable people from dependable companies. These folks work hard to get people into the American Dream. They did not go down the path of handing out loans along with the complimentary toaster.

As I hoped, those who really couldn’t handle a mortgage were informed of as much by an expert — that should have ended it. But, too many times they went online, or to Mortgages R Us and pushed their desire to own a home. Not everyone should. It is a huge financial responsibility that demands not only a monthly payment, but insurance, taxes, and maintenance.

It is like the youthful driver who wants the sporty image car and can scrounge up the car payment, but can not afford the insurance, the tag or the oil change. What is the point of ownership if you use up all of your means to own?

Taking the easy path to money is an epidemic.

For example, I noticed a house down the road every time I drove by it because of obvious gaping holes at the bottom of the exterior which spread up as it was rotting away. I then watched the house go on the market at a very low price since it was an inspection horror story. And just as I suspected, a flipper in a very fancy Hummer bought the house, and his redo on the outside looks great… but only in a cosmetic way. I witnessed the botchy repair. A band aid was put on an ugly sore and eventually, in a few years, the people who buy this home will discover that they have been had. The Hummer guy will make his money and be completely free of responsibility.

What about doing the right thing? Does anyone follow their principles, or have they forgotten to have any in the first place?

What is ethics anyway? Is it whatever the national polls state is the trend for the day. If we ask a thousand people on Friday what is the proper answer to an ethical dilemma will we get the same answer the following week from another thousand? Will that dictate the right answer?

Is it a well based standard of right or wrong that decide what we ought to do? Is it the law? Is it feelings? Is it the social norms that make something right? Is it Oprah?

There is a great ethical question test that I am going to pass along. See how you do.

Two questions: If you knew a woman who was pregnant and had syphilis, had eight kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally challenged, would you suggest an abortion? You are about to elect a world leader, which candidate would you most likely vote for? Candidate A is associated with crooked politicians, consults astrologers, has two mistresses and chain smokes and drinks martinis all day. Candidate B was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, is an opium user in college and drinks a quart of whisky every evening. Candidate C is a decorated war hero, a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks very little, no extramarital affairs.

The answer is Candidate A is Franklin D Roosevelt, Candidate B is Winston Churchill, and Candidate C is Adolph Hitler. If the woman would have taken the suggestion of an abortion, we would have taken out Beethoven.

Isn’t it funny how we look at things? A house, a person, everything can look good on the outside but in essence be rotten on the inside.

Politics is a sea of who thinks they know what is right for you? Who is more ethical? Who will choose what is right for you even when the polls disagree? I guess we go back to who has character? Good Character.

Right or wrong? What path do you lead every day? When the person in front of you drops the five dollar bill, do you go out of your way to return it? When you are shortchanged at the grocery store, do you correct the receipt even if it doesn’t go your way? Do you cheat a bit on your taxes? Little wrongs are still wrongs. They eat away at your soul and he who steals little will steal big. And so we are back to the financial mess, big guys who have stolen in big ways.

Reminds me of that movie where Demi Moore accepts a million dollars to sleep with Robert Redford? That is a true ethical situation. Does everyone have a price? Or does everyone have a Robert Redford that they would cheat for?

In other words, was it money or the dude? Would I cheat with Donny Osmond? Only in my mind. It is just a crush that has lasted for several decades.

Would I sleep with Donald Trump for ten million? Hmm.

How can we expect corporate America to be honest if we fail every day being honest with what we have? I hope I never find the bag full of money so I will not have to face the ethical dilemma of turning it in. In this day of four dollar a gallon gas, and four dollar a gallon milk, I might be tempted to follow the needs of my pocketbook instead of the moral code of my heart.

And with banks scaring people, more and more bags of money might be laying around?