Here's a great little analysis on the $700 billion dollar mess going on in USA by Tom Peters - uber management guru, and father of the consulting movement.The Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics.
Tom Peters posted this on 09/27/08The "engine" of the current economic mess is losing total touch with the basics. That is: lending money to people, by the millions in the end, who "obviously" couldn't pay it back. In many ways, that is the whole story—at the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the pile of derivatives of derivatives of derivatives are truly stupid real-estate loans that "any fool" would say should never have been made.
We get in trouble when we forget the basics. We get out of trouble when we remember the basics. We stay out of trouble when we become perpetually "insane" about the basics.
Does that sound simplistic? Perhaps. But remember: We're deep in the deep doggy doo-doo because of "nothing more than" lending money to people who obviously (!!!) couldn't pay it back.
Lesson (me speaking): Don't live beyond your means. Stay within your earning power. What's better to have - a bigger house or piece of mind?