It’s all a matter of trust

Robert Holt ~ 6/22/2011

To begin with, I would like to wish all the dad’s out there a belated Happy Father’s Day. Those of you who are parents know just what an awesome thing it is to be a dad or mom. To me it is the single most important aspect of my life. And, because my children are so vitally important to me, I care a great deal about their future.
As I reflected on why my kids feel so secure with myself or their mom, I can point to many reasons, but the most important quality has to be trust. For without trust, nothing else matters.
So what does trust have to do with anything I normally write about such as the economy or the real estate market?
I am convinced that nearly all of the problems that we, as a society, now face are a result of a breach of trust. Just look at the daily headlines, whether it is the banking crises, financial mismanagement of companies like GM and Chrysler, the foreclosure crises, mortgage meltdown, Municipal and sovereign-debt defaults, or even the spike in food or gasoline prices (and other commodities) caused by a Fed that is beholden to big banks instead of the average American, they all can be traced back to a breach in trust.
As one dissects the cause of the before mentioned issues (and many others), it becomes apparent that there has been an almost total abandonment of professional judgment and ethics in both Washington and on Wall Street.
Adding to the issue is the total lack of urgency that these problems are receiving. Yes, there is some lip service being given to them, but no one has the backbone to tell the truth, except maybe Ron Paul who is being passed off as a cranky old man. I am not endorsing him nor do I know if he has the answers, but I can tell you that any politician that implies that this is some distant problem for our children, clearly has no clue as to what he/she is saying. Of course, our children will still feel the pain many years from now, but this problem is blowing up now.
That's why I believe the time has come for more of us to wake up to what is really going on right under our noses. It is time to send a wakeup call to Washington and Wall Street.
I believe that our elected leaders as well as those who are running the corporate institutions (especially the ones the taxpayers are bailing out) should be setting a better example.
I don’t know about you, but I do hold those that we elect to run this country and for those that our tax dollars help pay their bonus, to a higher standard.
At a time, when the economy is in the toilet, and millions of Americans are losing jobs and their homes, I strongly feel that our political leaders and those running the companies deemed ‘Too Big Too Fail’ need to be doing everything cleaner and more ethically than ever before for one simple reason - their ability to lead us out of the nightmare they created depends on the most important of all characteristics.
And what am I referring too? Well, the same thing that we’re discussing that makes the connection between a parent and a child, trust.
Unfortunately, the current state of our nation shows that it's very clear that trust doesn't rank very high on the list of priorities for many that are in charge of getting us out of this mess. As a result, I believe that each of us have to take matters into our own hands.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
Maybe if enough of us get loud enough and let those in charge know that we are sick of their antics, sick of their lip service, sick of their cowardly behavior, and most of all sick of their violation of trust, then maybe we will see some real change.
Robert Holt, CDPE/SFR of The [HOLT] Group, RE/MAX Sonoran Hills. For more info and past articles, go to TheHoltGroupAZ.com or call 623-748-9583 and tell us your thoughts.