Our Debts and Debtors

America is still the largest economy in world history and its success is primarily based on an effective marriage between human trust and human ingenuity. Through this conjugal entanglement between the development of the higher form of social solidarity between human beings and the fruitful cultivation of markets and commercial enterprises, America has turned out to be the best mall in town for those who dream in material terms and aspired for the system where labor is rewarded and money can buy what you want. But another dimension of the American enterprise is grounded in the individual and collective faith in trust in investment and debts. By creating an economic system in which the human being can buy and sell within the framework of capitalism, the Puritan ethics has been widely celebrated for creating a certain kind of American. Real or imagined, the fact remains that through free labor and payment upon completion of service, the economy has risen and failed from time to time.

In assessing the economic trend of events in the country, three issues beg for our immediate attention:

1. Debts and the growing size of this monster. Not only has it become a Godzilla, the monster that ravages the city but it is also a blow that could undermine not only our faith in how we produce but in what we invest.

2. The great debate about public policy and the allocation of resources on a variety of problems. With respect to these points, my mind moves rapidly to the interaction between religion and politics. Whenever people meticulously separate the dollars they have for religious donations and the dollars they spare for other purposes, then chances are we fall victims to consumerism on the one hand, and growing debts on the other. This trend of events is not only unacceptable to the individual but it poses a serious crisis for the larger community of people. Debts for members of society could eat into the fiber of trust and social solidarity. At a time when fear of debt and the growing distrust about bankruptcy cases come together, the effective marriage between social trust and social solidarity begins to deteriorate. Here religion and public policy could share some space in the education of the public and the fortifications of the social and moral foundations to believe trust at both the individual and collective levels.

3. The increasing fascination with many people to make money regardless of what historically made America the home of invention and the place where many could become millionaires through labor, hard work and creative imaginations. As soon as this tradition persists in the country, the American economy will make a significant turn towards new creations and new inventions. It only leads politically alert leaders and creative entrepreneurs allowed to experiment without breaking trust. A good illustration of this historical continuity in human commercial development is the American contribution to a Medieval process started by the ancient Muslim world. During the medieval period, the concept of the check developed. We are told that the Italian word for bank, banco came from their interaction with the Muslims from where the idea developed.banco means a bench, a business tool used by Medieval Muslims to conduct their transaction flow.

Not only were the Italians the largest banking houses during that time, but the papacy itself found such an enterprise new and enriching. This idea would later go through some changes at the hands of the Dutch and the English. It made both nations economic successes. The nation of shopkeepers as England came to be known made history through world trade and commerce. The pound was strong and it reigns supreme. So has been the dollar until recently time. As a top dog currency the dollar has pro fitted from American ingenuity and creativity. Like the Italians and the Dutch, here too Americans took the check to the plastic level of the credit card. This unfortunately has become one source of our debt problems and our political leaders sometimes fail to realize that the national credit card is as dangerous as the personal one. The latest news is the housing foreclosures.

In this context I would say debts are real; they are not monsters in our imaginations. They are standing on our bedside and sleeping at night simply keeps them away when the eyes yields to the weight of the labor of the day. When the sunshine comes out, the morning dew of self-deception begins to disappear. Let us go back to the celebration of the marriage between trust and ingenuity in America.

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Sulayman Nyang

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Our Debts and Debtors