Here is an excerpt from an email article from John Miller, author of QBQ. Its good food for thought... Let's Get Real I spoke yesterday on "Personal Accountability and the QBQ!" in 80 degree, sunny Orlando, Florida (it's tough work, but someone has to do it). The crowd of 500 evil capitalists work for one of those greedy, for-profit corporations that was irresponsibly lavishing tons of money on their undeserving, spoiled people attending an obscenely extravagant boondoggle at a posh resort. Getting real, we were at a pretty nice Marriott and the audience was made up of dedicated, hard working, and caring sales and management personnel who bring drugs to market that reduce pain. A worthy mission, for sure. And in my talk I chose—dare I say that I dared—to make this statement about our current world: "It's not about Wall Street greed, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the lack of regulation, politicians, and those bad, bad financial lenders. It is about the individual who made a choice; a choice to sign a purchase contract for a home, an SUV, or a new boat that they could not afford." Well, as I continued the crowd decided to interrupt (how rude of them!)—with applause. And I mean robust applause, not polite golf clap. And please understand: It wasn't applause for John Miller the speaker. Rather, it was accolades for an idea that many know is not in vogue: Personal Accountability. Yes, I know that some will disagree with me, seeing "both sides of the issue." But let's get real and get to the truth, which is always so simple and healing when stated clearly: Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do. Truly, unless a person was mentally incapacitated and someone grabbed their hand and forced an "X" on a legal document, then it's all about individuals and their choices. Now, I expect some will say. "But, John, don't we need to hold someone accountable for the tanking economy?! People are losing their jobs and their homes!" Well, yes, it's a tough time for many, but here's a challenging question: Why don't we ever hear about consumer greed? Where is that discussion, one that involves PEOPLE who chose to go deeply into debt, living on Excess Street with borrowed money, just to keep up with the Jones's (who author Dave Ramsey says are also broke). This truth is ignored by the point-fingers-and-create-victims old media. Well, I'm here to say I'm sick and tired of having the wrong discussion. I want to talk about ... Me. Yes, me. It was late 1999 when I decided to become a "day trader" and began trading stocks online. And I succeeded! Succeeded to lose more money than I'll admit in this QBQ! QuickNote. Hmm, but now that I think about it ... It was E*TRADE's fault for letting me open a trading account. My bank failed me by allowing me to transfer funds from Miller accounts to E*TRADE. And CNBC, with their on-screen hosts and traders, are totally culpable since they talked about the NASDAQ going to 6,000 and the DOW to the moon. And, boy, if only my wife, Karen, had stepped in and stopped me! Do you buy any of that? I don't. Neither do I buy anything that smacks of blame, finger-pointing, and victim thinking. It's just such a lousy way to live life. Ann Landers, the famous advice columnist, helped a lot of people get real with this counsel: "Nobody can make you mad or hurt your feelings. You do those things all by yourself." And nobody beyond me is accountable for my decisions, my choices, my mistakes. I will own my actions. I am not a victim. And I choose to rise above the current winds of societal culture. For without personal accountability, I have little left. Personally, I think it feels good to get real—I hope you're with me. Based on yesterday's response in Florida, I think most of you are. And, believe me, we at QBQ, Inc. are grateful to each of you who are fighting hard right now for a grand and life-changing principle that must never die: PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. John G. Miller Author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question® and Flipping the Switch
personal accountability. i'm a loan officer at xyz bank. I make $150K a year to originate mortgage loans. My bank has to write off ten percent of my loans because I was greedy and pushing through applications on false information which I helped get these loans through. my bank has failed, who is responsible
What about the personal accountability of the loan officer who made a bad loan. Should that person not have any personal accountability?
What's wrong with that? How many times have you heard someone say they were going to flip a house or buy a bunch of real estate to get rich?
to claim that these guys who work at the banks, aren't responsible is the reason the republican party is fading fast. keep pushing this idioic logic, and sarah palin. we love it. when someone puts their money in a bank, who are they expecting to protect it from bad loans. There's a person who actually gets paid to do this protection, and gets paid a pretty nice salary.
That was really great, but I preferred it the first time in a 30-second GI Joe animated "Knowing is Half the Battle" PSA over two decades ago.
No sensible person is denying that the banks had responsibility. But at the end of the day, you should be looking at yourself, and not pointing fingers. It's easy to put the blame on someone else, but people have to realize the only control you have is over yourself. I can't personally fix a bank that does this, but I can control what decisions I make so I avoid the problem down the road. If you can't fix yourself, the problem will never go away. The individuals who couldn't afford it need to look at themselves, and so do the banks.
day traders 100% are in it for making quick money how many percent of home buyers really just want to make quick money? banks have lowered interest rates to entice home buyers, there are government programs which make home buying easier ofr those who cannot afford are there incentives/programs to day traders?
read this crap again, the guy is actually trying to take the responsibility off the banks, why do you think it refers to them as "for profit". its trying to justify the banks idiocy through profit motive
You need better reading skills. I do not see that anywhere in the article. And personal accountability speaks for everyone. It speaks for individual and it speaks for these corporations. It is all about personal accountability. If you honestly think the banks had more responsibility than these individuals, then I feel sorry for you because thats the logic that will never get you far in life. You can sit there all you want and point fingers, but if you can't point a finger at yourself, well then you are always going to get screwed over. All the guy is saying you have the most control over things you do, so fixing your own mistakes is the best way to avoid problems in the future.
first of all, PERSONAL implies individual. Second of all, show me wear I am wrong from the original post, it in no where puts responsibility on the companies lastly, you can try to play the "i feel sorry for you trying to blame everyone on your problems" card, but the reality is the loan officer is there to protect the assets of the bank. I feel sorry for you for not know the purpose of a bank edit:
During the housing bubbles, there was a huge increase in people trying to make quick money by buying houses. Discount brokerages have done tons advertising and lowered commissions to make day trading easier. My point isn't that they are exactly the same, but that both were used to try to get rich by idiots.
I feel sorry for you every time you post anything about finance or economics. You clearly haven't shown even the most basic understanding of those subjects, so I don't expect you to get this. You don't think those banks are looking at themselves right now saying "Well *&%*, we probably shouldn't do that again..." The banks made the bad decisions, and they're paying for it right now as they are hanging on by a thread.
Wacko Man Show me in the original post where the author is putting responsibility on the Companies. if not, please stop responding to just argue. you challenged that and you were wrong. the original post does not do that, that's my only point
They want to give corporations more protections and more rights than any individual but give them less responsibility and less accountability than any person . . .. lovely Rocket River
I feel sorry for you if you think this sunday school lecture really has anything to do with finance or economics. This thread sucks. Shame on you guys for taking the bait.
Of course there are personal responsiblities for the buyers. But when a Banker tells someone that he can afford the house (assume he is telling the truth about his income), should the person trust banker? What if the person is not financially competent? Should the bankers be charged with fraud in that case and put in jail?
Question: Are we saying PONZI GUY [Mandoff?] was not the reason those folx lost their millions. . it was their fault not his . . . . they should not have been so greedy and gullible? or does the personal responsibility thing only apply to poor people? Rocket River
