t would appear that we are headed for one extremely painful recession—one that might remind us of the Great Depression.  I would like to say a few words about the difference between now and then.  I was not alive during the Great Depression.  Yet, I know something about the moral habits of those who were alive then.  And the comparison between the two is both instructive and painful.  Indeed, the comparison further confirms my suspicion that society has been heading down the wrong track.

Quite simply, the Great Depression came about for reasons that were well beyond the control of the ordinary person.  It happened to individuals who exercised self-discipline and foresight and lived within their means.  People may have lived from paycheck-to-paycheck, but they were able to meet their basic needs without having to contend with massive debt on their hands.  Insofar as individuals were able to put food on the table and to pay the rent or meet the mortgage, then they were fine.  There was not the albatross debt around their necks owing to goods that had been accumulated via credit for pleasure or in order to keep up with the Jones or the Smiths or whomever.  Unnecessary debt, let us say, was essentially nonexistent.

Fast forward to the present, and we get a very different world.  Living beyond one’s means is trademark of the present; accordingly, unnecessary debt is a characteristic feature of society.

To be sure: when a man is down, there nothing to be said for stomping on him.  Yet, it can be difficult to ignore why a man is down.  If, for instance, a person drives drunk and gets into an accident that paralyzes him, our sympathies rightly go out for the person.  Still, we are not entitled to lose sight of the difference between this person and someone who was hit by a drunk driver.

The same line of reasoning applies to the difference between our current recession and the Great Depression.  My heart goes out to every person who has lost her or his house.  Yet, the bigger and better mentality is what triggered this depression.  It is not what triggered the Great Depression.  Debt and more debt and more debt is what triggered the present recession.  Debt that was often unnecessary; debt that was occasioned by a lack of self-discipline and foresight.

Why mention these things?  The answer is because what counts as a solution to the present depression has a lot to do with what our habits are.  And a simple but poignant truth is that we as a society do not have the self-sustaining habits of foresight and self-discipline that we once did.  We have in fact mastered the art of excusing ourselves for just about anything and everything, from road-rage to spending money.  Not only that, shame as a deterrent to bad behavior has all but disappeared.

People were not more human during and immediately after the Great Depression.  But there were a number of factors that made it easier for them to survive.  I have just mentioned shame.  There were lots of bad and foolish things that people did not do simply because it was shameful.  In other words, there was a public standard of excellence to which people were held.  A person who acted foolishly was viewed as doing just that.  No one attempted to put a spin on his behavior so as to make it seem less foolish looking. 

Needless to say, that sort of thing is gone.  A person can act like a fool and people will seek to excuse it or even to justify it.

I have mentioned foresight.  The mark of foresight is none other than reflection.  People thought about what their proposed behavior and the impact that it would have upon themselves, if not others.  This is roundly not the case nowadays.  People no longer seem to see the impact of their behavior.  Thus, I once had a student remark “I did not study for the quiz because I attended a frat party”.  What intrigued me is that he did not seem to appreciate the uptake of his own words to me.  A stupid lie would almost have been better. 

What I am calling foresight went by another name.  The name is Commonsense.  And the question is this: Can we really solve the financial crisis that we are in, given that we have become a society that is so bereft of commonsense?  Quite frankly, it is not obvious that we can.  This holds even down to the stimulus rebate check.  In effect, this was a case of the government borrowing money on behalf of the people in order to stimulate the economy.  We have to pay that money back or, in any case, posterity will have to do so.  But why place upon posterity’s back a debt in order that we can feel good about ourselves?  That does not make commonsense!

And then what are people supposed to do with the rebate money?  Well, it turns out that we are supposed to spend it on frivolous things; for it is that sort of spending that is supposed to stimulate the economy.  But wait a minute: We got us into this mess by way of bad spending habits.  How can it be, then, that promoting bad spending habits is supposed to get us out of this mess?  How is that the responsible thing to do? 

My question was: Can we solve the economic crisis that we are in given that we have become a society bereft of commonsense. 

Some solutions require that the actors change.  In a country that has become a nation of entitlement, the last thing on earth that we seem to be willing to do is actually change our behavior.  For that would entail taking responsibility for our own actions.  And if there is one difference more than any other that marks the difference between the Great Depression and the present recession it is simply the view that people should take responsibility for their own actions.  Almost no one nowadays sincerely embraces the view that we should take responsibility for our own actions.  From this difference everything else flows. 

No wonder there is no easy solution to the financial mess we are in.  It is sort of like having the rug smell because people are urinating on it; and everyone complains about the stench and the wet rug, but no stops urinating on the rug.