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Feb. 8, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Lofty ideals must be followed with grounded applications

Clifford D. May: Letter from the West Bank
Steve Rothaus: Judge OKs plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be on girl's birth certificate
Gloria Goodale: States consider drone bans: Overreaction or crucial for privacy rights?
Environmental Nutrition Editors: Don't buy the aloe vera juice hype
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.: Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
Erik Lacitis: Vanity plates: Some take too much license
The Kosher Gourmet by Susie Middleton: Broccoflower, Carrot and Leek Ragout with Thyme, Orange and Tapenade is a delightful and satisfying melange of veggies, herbs and aromatics
Feb. 6, 2013

Nara Schoenberg: The other in-law problem

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. : A see-no-jihadist for the CIA
Kristen Chick: Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
Roger Simon: Ed Koch's lucky corner
Heron Marquez Estrada: Robot-building sports on a roll
Patrick G. Dean, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: How to restore body's ability to secrete insulin
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: 3 prostate-protecting diet tips
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen 7 principles for to help you make the best soup ever in a slow cooker
Feb. 4, 2013

Jonathan Tobin: Can Jewish Groups Speak Out on Hagel?

David Wren: Findings of government study, released 3 days before Newtown shooting, at odds with gun-control crusaders
Kristen Chick: Tahrir becomes terrifying, tainted
Curtis Tate and Greg Gordon: US keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to hear case on arrests, DNA
Harvard Health Letters: Neck and shoulder pain? Know what it means and what to do
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D.: Eat your way to preventing age-related muscle loss
The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington Baked Pears in Red Wine and Port Wine Glaze: A festive winter dessert
Feb. 1, 2013

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: Redemption

Clifford D. May Home, bloody, home
Christa Case Bryant andNicholas Blanford Why despite Syria's allies warning of retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, the threats are likely hollow
Rick Armon, Ed Meyer and Phil Trexler Ex-police captain cleared by DNA test is freed after nearly 15 years
Harvard Health Letters: Could it by your thyroid?
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: When 'healthy food' isn't
Sue Zeidler: Coke ad racist? Arab-American groups want to yank Super Bowl ad (INCLUDES VIDEO)
The Kosher Gourmet by Nealey Dozier The secret of this soup is the garnish
January 30, 2013

Allan Chernoff: Celebrating 'Back from the Dead Day'

America isn't a religious country? Don't tell Superbowl fans!
Mark Clayton Cybercrime takedown!
Germany remembers Hitler rise to power
Israel salutes U. N. --- with the one finger salute
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: Get cookin' with heart-healthy fats
Ballot riles Guinness World Records
The Kosher Gourmet by Elizabeth Passarella Potato, Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin
January 28, 2013

Nancy Youssef: And Democracy for all? Two years on, Egypt remains in state of chaos

Fred Weir: Putin: West is fomenting jihadi 'blowback'
Meredith Cohn: Implantable pain disk may help those with cancer
Michael Craig Miller, M.D. : Ask the Harvard Experts: Are there drugs to help control binge eating?
David Ovalle Use of controversial 'brain mapping' technology stymied
Jane Stancill: Professor's logic class has 180,000 friends
David Clark Scott Lego Racism?
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali The celebrated chef introduces us to PANZEROTTI PUGLIESI, cheese-stuffed pastry from Italy's south


Jewish World Review Oct. 3, 2008 / 4 Tishrei 5769

Only ourselves to blame

By Linda Chavez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | No one wants to talk about who is most to blame for the financial crisis that now threatens the U.S. economy, though there is plenty of blame to go around. It is far easier to blame other people — greedy Wall Street executives, predatory lenders, President Bush, federal regulators, members of Congress —than it is to look at ourselves.


For too long, Americans have been living on borrowed money they could never pay back. We've bought houses we couldn't afford and taken out loans on home equity that didn't materialize, assuming housing values would continually move upward. We've paid for every new gadget Madison Avenue hawked with credit cards whose principal we never paid down. We sent our children to college on loans, saddling them with debts that crush their futures. And all the while, we've kidded ourselves into believing the bill wouldn't come due. Now it has — and all of us, responsible and irresponsible alike, will foot the cost.


But you will never hear this explanation from politicians who are scrambling to resolve the credit crisis. It is far easier to talk about the evil of CEO "golden parachutes" or the dangers of mortgage-backed securities and sub-prime loans. Don't get me wrong. It is obscene that executives who mismanaged their companies leave with millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains while shareholders see their investments plummet and employees lose their jobs. But until we recognize the culpability for the giant Ponzi scheme that was the housing bubble goes beyond Wall Street to Main Street, we won't really fix the problem.


The average American now owes more than $16,635 in consumer debt, excluding mortgages, according to U.S. News. A 2004 Federal Reserve Board survey found that a majority of credit card holders, 58 percent, do not pay their card balances every month. Nearly 10 percent of households owe balances of $9,000 or more on their credit cards. And young Americans are especially dependent on credit cards to finance their lifestyles. Some 76 percent of undergraduate college students have credit cards, and the average undergrad has $2,200 in credit card debt, and overall will amass nearly $20,000 in student debt during their college years, according to a 2004 study by Nellie Mae.


We've simply become accustomed to buying what we want, when we want it, regardless of whether or not we can really afford it. Consumerism has been driving our economy for years. And politicians have encouraged it, including President Bush, who told us all to go shopping to bring us out of recession after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Again this year, politicians urged us to spend the tax rebates that Congress passed as part of the stimulus package. I can't recall a single political leader that suggested we should pay down our debts with those rebate checks.


As a result, our individual debt continues to grow and our savings to shrink. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that for August 2008, the personal savings rate as a percentage of disposable income was 1 percent, but that "saving from current income may be near zero or negative when outlays are financed by borrowing (including borrowing financed through credit cards or home equity loans), by selling investments or other assets, or by using savings from previous periods." Baby boomers have little prospect of retiring on their savings, especially given the current declines in the stock market.


We have become a nation of debtors, and our only solution seems to be to turn to the government to bail us out. And it's not just Wall Street firms looking to be rescued. Politicians are fearful of passing a financial package that does not include some relief for borrowers as well. Certainly it is worth doing something to prevent lenders from making bad loans to individuals without the credit or down payment to ensure likely repayment. But automatically bailing out borrowers who weren't credit worthy in the first place is no solution.


Ultimately, all of us have got to rid ourselves of the addiction to spending money we don't have. Instead of pointing fingers, we'd better start looking in the mirror if we want to understand who's really to blame.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

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