Our Leadership during Economic Crisis

With regards to our current economic crisis, I do not believe this is a government issue – this is a market intelligence issue.

We, the market, weren’t the watchdogs as we need to be. Our consumer leadership has been absent for years and I hope we learn something from this debacle. We need to look deeply into our own actions and make serious changes in how we participate in the marketplace. We cannot remove ourselves from our responsibilities and expect other people or entities to take care of our best interests.

Shareholders need to take their responsibilities as voters for Board Members more seriously. The board room is where the true decision-making of the Fortune 1000 happens and we know very little about their credentials as a whole. I believe we have allowed ourselves to advocate our responsibilities because mutual funds and 401Ks remove us from the responsibility of knowing the details of our investment portfolio. Does this sound wise?

Remember, we are a capitalist society. These companies which are failing and going under are public – and it is a risk to invest in anything. Shareholders are the ultimate decision-makers whether a public company succeeds or fails. Thus WE need to own up to our responsibilities in the process.

What is not needed is government intervention – it requires market intervention and accepting that we all have to take our lumps on this.