A Crisis of Character

 This recent article in The Huffington Post frames the United States's current economic crisis in terms of a failure of morality and the virtues. 

"'Character is destiny,' remarked the Greek philosopher Heraclitus in the 6th Century B.C. This observation applies as much to nations as it does to individuals. And our current economic woes are, in large part, the repercussions of a national crisis of character.

"Free markets, in order to function well, depend upon the virtue of their participants. The distrust engendered by vice raises wasteful transaction and monitoring costs to levels that can paralyze the marketplace. Moreover, vice leads to the phenomenon of "putting profits before people." This can be manifested in a variety of ways: by taking imprudent and excessive risks with other people's money; by selling products and services that harm consumers, families, and society; and by engaging in outright fraud. Today, of course, we are suffering from all of the above."

Read the rest of the article here.

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