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Personal financial responsibility: Is it dead or on life support?

Note: The following is another in a series of columns on subjects of a philosophical or ethical nature by a Schuyler County resident who prefers to go by the nom de plume of A. Moralis -- a reference to what the writer sees as the lack of a moral compass in this country during this rapidly changing Age of the Internet.

By A. Moralis

Feelings of disenchantment have reared up in our country lately.

Beset as we are by bad economic news and financial difficulties, it is only a short step to frustration -- to being overwhelmed by those people (think financial and credit institutions) who want everything done for them and think all they have to do is complain loudly enough to get their way.

Where has the commitment gone to do our part to help make things better for everyone? It's not that we're incapable of such team playing; we're just neutered by our cultural reliance on others (think government) for seemingly everything in life.

Joan Didion wrote: “The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.” Personal financial responsibility is no exception.

The root of the problem might be that some would like to cast the blame (an American pastime) -- perhaps on Osama Bin Laden, perhaps on George W. Bush, or -- heck, perhaps on Oprah. Why not? Blame usually is scattershot in its application.

The fact is, we are not in this predicament solely due to 9/11, nor solely due to the Republicans ... nor for that matter the Democrats. We are here -- at this crossroads -- for a myriad of reasons that the finest minds are finding difficult to fathom. But among those reasons is a tendency, in this age of information overload and moral decay, to target virtue and character, as though they were the enemy -- and choose instead to value the emptiness of fame and fortune: the first nebulous, the second often too difficult to control in a practical sense (especially in a teetering economy) or a moral sense (think temptation) or both.

Yes, the American culture seems to have a built-in need to blame someone -- anyone -- for everything. And therein lies the problem.

Personal responsibility is the polar opposite of finger-pointing. If you have a negative net worth, who is responsible? The credit-card companies? No! While their practices might be a crime, you are the one who signed up for the offer to get a free t-shirt and a license to spend money you didn’t have.

Granted, in this day and age of rampant corporate bailouts, our leadership continues to set a terrible example of fiscal responsibility for its citizens. The nonchalance it shows when using our money to fund questionable practices and behaviors is despicable.

But what if our individual track records over the course of the last year were made public for all to see? How would we fare? It's safe to say most of us would have a few skeletons that would quickly quell our tendency to brashly criticize.

The point here is simple: while we might expect others to act in a certain way, we need to be sure that we’re behaving appropriately ourselves.

Don’t like how the government is spending money it doesn’t have? When was the last time you made a credit-card purchase with money you didn’t have?

Angry with how your employer is failing to budget enough money for personal raises? How would your family budget hold up under similar scrutiny? If you hadn't adopted a paycheck to paycheck mentality, you wouldn’t be so dependent on your employer.

True, not everyone in our society lives beyond their means, or mismanages their money, but a lot of those among us do, and it is costing those who are responsible. Are you aware that bankruptcy law was established with businesses in mind? It was not originally intended for individuals. Now, 96% of all bankruptcies are for individuals, not business.

It begs the question, again: Where are personal responsibility and restraint?

Although our political leaders have shown an immense amount of irresponsibility, we don't need to follow their lead. We might complain about their inadequacy, but we shouldn't wait for them to fix our situation.

We need to take responsibility for our own actions.

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Previous A. Moralis columns:

The first one is here.
The second one is here.
The third one is here.
The fourth one is here.
The fifth one is here.
The sixth one is here.
The seventh one is here.
The eighth one is here.