A Spiritual Response to the Global Financial Crisis

A tragic result of the stock market crash in 1929 was the suicide reports. According to news accounts, several people shot themselves, and at least one person died from intentionally leaving the gas stove on.

Today we’re in the midst of another severe financial crisis that has already gone global, and I’m aware of at least two recent murder-suicides, one in Los Angeles and one in Louisville, Kentucky. The Los Angeles deaths were clearly related to financial concerns as an unemployed accountant killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself.

Despite the bailout bill and other measures taken recently to halt the economic downturn, we can expect the economy to get worse before it gets better. More and more Americans are facing financial hardship, if not disaster, and it’s hard to know where to turn for help.

If you’ve followed my blog over the months since its inauguration in late August 2007, you know that from time to time I’ve published a continually revised version of the ancient Buddhist loving kindness prayer. Today, as I read my latest version, it occurred to me how appropriate it is for this occasion. Whatever your beliefs are about prayer, it seems to me that sending forth this kind of energy into the universe has to be for the good of all. So in this global financial meltdown, I invite my readers to join with me in speaking these words:

May we release all burdens of guilt, shame, fear, and loss from past trauma that no longer serve us and needless fear and anxiety about the future;

May we be filled with loving kindness;

May we be protected from all internal and external harm;

May we be as healthy and whole as possible;

May we be centered, peaceful, and at ease;

May we be happy;

May each of us enjoy both spiritual and material
well-being.

Sen. Clinton Places Homeowners on Equal Footing with Wall Street Giants

Leave it to Sen. Hillary Clinton, who saw the financial crisis coming months ago, to speak up for millions of homeowners threatened with mortgage foreclosures while the White House, presidential candidates, and other congressional leaders focus on rescuing the huge corporations whose policies have brought the nation to the brink of financial disaster.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Clinton writes:

“There is a broad consensus that Congress must act to stave off deeper turmoil on Wall Street. Irrespective of the final agreement yet to be reached, there are several principles that must be part of a broader reform effort that begins this week and continues in the coming months.

“This is not just a financial crisis; it's an economic crisis. Therefore, the solutions we pursue cannot simply stabilize the markets. We must also deal with the interconnected economic challenges that set the stage for this crisis -- and reverse the failed policies that allowed a potential crisis to become a real one.

“First, we must address the skyrocketing rates of mortgage defaults and foreclosures that have buffeted the economy and ignited the credit crisis. Two million homeowners carry mortgages worth more than their homes. They hold $3 trillion in mortgage debt. Nearly three million adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled for a rate increase in the next two years. Another wave of foreclosures looms.

“I've proposed a new Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), to launch a national effort to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. The original HOLC, launched in 1933, bought mortgages from failed banks and modified the terms so families could make affordable payments while keeping their homes. The original HOLC returned a profit to the Treasury and saved one million homes. We can save roughly three times that many today. We should also put in place a temporary moratorium on foreclosures and freeze rate hikes in adjustable-rate mortgages. We've got to stem the tide of failing mortgages and give the markets time to recover.

“The time for ideological, partisan arguments against these actions is over. For years, the calls to provide borrowers an affordable opportunity to avoid foreclosure as a means of preventing wider turmoil were dismissed as government intrusion into the private marketplace. My proposals over the past two years were derided as too much, too soon. Now we are forced to reckon with too little, too late.”

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