Will My Self-Interest Assure Your Well-Being?

Many of you will remember a few weeks ago, back before the recent election, when it seemed that suddenly our nation’s economic health was headed over the precipice unless some major legislation was immediately passed. Oh yeah, the bailout thing! Does that seem like distant history now? It’s funny how quickly the next news item displaces the spectacle that preceded it. It’s also interesting how normal all this can seem to us who live in this world, but are hopefully not of it. How different is the world in its general outlook on the future, anyway? I found an interesting article in USA Today (http://usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-10-23-greenspan-congress_N.htm) reporting on former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before Congress. You'll find the usual economic news and predictions, which of course seem to be the basic fuel of the economic fire in the world. But more importantly, you'll find in this article some telling statements regarding basic worldview. Consider these:

• "the crisis has exposed flaws in his thinking and in the workings of the free-market system."
• Greenspan had a "belief that banks would be more prudent in their lending practices because of the need to protect their stockholders..."
• Greenspan said he had made a mistake in "believing that banks in operating in their self-interest would be sufficient to protect their shareholders..." (emphasis mine)
• Greenspan called this "a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works." (emphasis mine)

People do not make decisions in their personal lives or create policy for nations in a worldview vacuum. There are assumptions (e.g. that self-interest will naturally translate into interest and care for others?) that we consciously or sub-consciously refer to in all that we do. Alan Greenspan is not the only individual with influence and power in our society that actually does have a carefully considered "model...that defines how the world works." Without knowing Mr. Greenspan personally, one has very little with which to question the sincerity of those worldviews or models. But sincerity is not the most fundamental question, since sincerity is not analogous to truth. (And there is a hint about my own model, i.e. that truth exists and is of the highest value.) We do have the freedom and capacity to compare other models with truth to determine their veracity (correspondence to ultimate reality) and justness (consequences for others). We are currently privileged to be looking upon some of the real-time logical conclusions and consequences to a model like Alan Greenspan's.