The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

However, in government, in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be more productive.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as “living-impaired.”

7. Hiring outside contractors to lift the dead horse and move its legs.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore, contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course…

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position…

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This is the last in a 3 part series of my opinions describing how personal choices affect where we are in life.

It is my belief that we as individuals could have mitigated some of the serious economic problems we are experiencing by managing our spending and responsibly borrowing money. The housing crisis could have been lessened by prudent borrowing of the individual. We should not have purchased mortgages we could not afford. We should not have 20 credit cards in our wallet. We as a community should have made personal choices to live within our means.

Having said that, what has happened to the moral compass and personal responsibility of corporate America. The personal decisions they made affected each and every one of us. Their decisions coupled with the lifestyle of millions of Americans have brought the greatest economy in the world to its knees.

Where is the moral compass and personal responsibility of individuals within the government agencies tasked with regulating  industries? Where is it in our politicians? It is true the object of any business is to make money. It is true, government should have laws and regulations in place to protect us from unscrupulous business practices. The problem is that our business leaders, regulators and politicians have become “cozy” with one another. The American people are at their mercy.

It seems to me that our politicians are tied to the money they receive from corporate America and other lobbies. How can they make good decisions for we the people? It seems to me that a moral compass and personal responsibility have taken a back seat to advancing a career, staying in power and perhaps lining a pocket.

I wonder about the enormous salaries and bonuses CEO’s and executives within these corporations make, regardless of whether the company is doing well or not, again “cozy”. It has been reported that they all sit on each others boards and guess what? Your right they all get big paydays. Again where is the moral compass? Personal choice to disregard anything resembling the good of the collective seems to be the order of the day.

We are in the middle of a national debate on healthcare reform. We should reform a system that is clearly to expensive and growing out of control. I am tired of my premiums and co-pays growing beyond inflation every year. I don’t know what the out come of this debate will be but I am sure that with no moral compass in sight it won’t be what we expect. I do know that the personal choices of our government leadership will affect all of us and we will be where we are tomorrow because of that decision.

The only thing that I think I can do is make personal decisions that will shelter me from as much of the fallout of current situation as I can and prepare me for the future. I hope you all make a personal decision to do the same.

The weapons we all have,  our vote, voice and our dollars. If we let the government know what we want, if we vote our conscience perhaps they will listen. Our dollars can be withheld from corporate America, I know that will get their attention.

In the first two installments I spoke of individual choices and how they affect where we are in life. As you can see I recognize that the choices of others will affect where we are in life also. I do hold to the idea that we as individuals are responsible for where we are in life because of our own decisions. Decide now, to get involved contact your representatives, let them know you are tired of a system that disregards we the people. Decide now, to put your personal finances  in order and live within your means. Decided now, to not buy anything from or invest with those corporations that are unscrupulous. Perhaps we the people can make a difference because of our personal decisions.

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