What deadly sin was most responsible for getting us into this mess?

July 28, 2008

What deadly sin was most responsible for getting us into this mess?

Lust

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth

Wrath

Envy

Pride

45 comments:

Anonymous said...: Is ignorance and lack of common sense or foresight a sin?

Then I vote:
1) greed
2) Vanity; July 28, 2008 10:14 AM
Anonymous said...: With Greg Swann it was "stupidity"; July 28, 2008 10:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Ah Hell... I'm a fan of all seven. But right now... I'm gonna have to go with wrath.; July 28, 2008 11:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Lust: from birth corporations bombard us with sexual images to manipulate us

Gluttony: Americans consume to the point of obesity, ecologic, and financial ruin.

Greed: Boomers cutting taxes while raising spending through the roof.

Sloth: TV and "jobs Americans won't do"

Wrath: Hating blacks more than loving one's self causing people to vote against their interests.

Envy: Since academic success became the path to success in America the culture has become anti-intellectual.

Pride: Thinking that "it can't happen here".; July 28, 2008 11:32 AM
Anonymous said...: stupidity; July 28, 2008 11:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Greed pure and simple; July 28, 2008 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Generation Xers GREED; July 28, 2008 1:09 PM
Paul E. Math said...: gluttony, greed, envy, pride

Housing porn fomented envy. Then homebuyers acted out of envy, determined to one-up their friends, neighbours, people they saw on tv.

Mix in some pride, greed and gluttony too as they bragged about their granite countertops and how much they 'made' on their house/condo just by redecorating. And they all had to redecorate with the best of everything.

These sins are deadly, folks. And this housing bailout bill is an attempt to avoid retribution for the individuals who succumbed to these sins. But it will be the whole country who suffers retribution as the dollars becomes worthless.; July 28, 2008 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: It was a very informative 2 Hrs.

I've placed my order.; July 28, 2008 1:31 PM
Anonymous said...: The ones that had an obvious role:

1.) Gluttony: Americans WAY over-consumed on housing in an extremely wasteful way (land, raw materials, energy, etc.). Plus, think of all the HELOCs and 2nd mortgages used to acquire more useless crap.

2.) Greed: (gluttony with wealth) Think of all the lying appraisers, mortgage-brokers, bankers, 6%ers, no-doc loan applicants, and politicians who are now forcing the rest of us to pick up the tab.

3.) Sloth: "My highly-leveraged house will continue to appreciate 12% every year! Therefore, I can use it as an ATM and be rich by doing nothing. My house will do the work for me!"

4.) Envy: Much of the bubble was associated with keeping up appearances . . . things like, "The Joneses have granite countertops, so we need granite countertops and taverntine floors."

5.) Pride: The winner of this contest, as well as the Mother of all the other sins. Somewhere along the way, pride of ownership (which can be a good thing) got turned into pride of being a worthy person. People, and much of American society, have convoluted self-worth and the worth of their residences. Where did we go wrong?; July 28, 2008 1:46 PM
Anonymous said...: greed

wrath is what i wish i could act upon.; July 28, 2008 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: My favorite three

1) Sloth.
Move money to make money. Beats the hell out of working for a living.

2) Greed (no explanation needed)

3) Pride.
As in "goes before the fall," of the dollar and America.; July 28, 2008 2:59 PM
Anonymous said...: It's

All

About

The

Money; July 28, 2008 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Wrath: Hating blacks more than loving one's self causing people to vote against their interests.

Anyone who doesn't mindlessly praise Obama as The Messiah must be a racist KKK Nazi redneck uneducated skinhead mullet bigot.; July 28, 2008 3:21 PM
Anonymous said...: In the last days men will be ...
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...; July 28, 2008 3:36 PM
Devestment said...: In the new America that removes historic religious iconography from its buildings and restricts prayer from school there is a steadfast denial of spiritual principals. Therefore my answer is “none of the above”.

In my opinion there is much wrong with organized religion as man is fallible and frequently wrong. However, religion is productive and good in that it may contain tools and methods of living that will promote well being and contentment.

These methods developed over thousands of years in human experience. When I look at society today, I see many suffering from the lack of spiritual principal in their life. Somehow, one viable solution is shrinking while the problem expands.

Please feel free to exercise your free will and discredit my claim. I don’t have to be wrong so that you can be correct.; July 28, 2008 3:57 PM
Unknown said...: Actually 95% of Americans believe in God and the majority attend church.

I doubt the 5% athiests are what ruined America.

In fact, allowing Rove and Bush to use religion to get elected CAUSED the problems in America.; July 28, 2008 5:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Greed, by a country mile.; July 28, 2008 5:08 PM
Anonymous said...: .

Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity!

.; July 28, 2008 5:24 PM
Anonymous said...: .

Direct from the Bible baby;

"For the Love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs"

I Tim 6:10

.; July 28, 2008 5:31 PM
Anonymous said...: plain and simple greed!; July 28, 2008 5:31 PM
Anonymous said...: All the deadly sins can be totaled up into on word.......More!

I want more money,

I want more power,

I want more, more, more....

That's all you Bastards want from Britney is More, More, More!

Leave her alone!

.; July 28, 2008 5:37 PM
Refuse to buy overpriced said...: Greed combined with sloth.

Flippers were buying houses and reselling them for a profit, without even fixing them up. It was a pyramid scheme for people who wanted to make money without doing any actual work, using other people's money.

Mind-numbing stupidity on the part of Financial Institutions made it all possible, via 0% down-payment loans.; July 28, 2008 7:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Is "Americano" a deadly sin?; July 28, 2008 7:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Baby Boomers destroyed the country (and the planet).; July 28, 2008 7:58 PM
Anonymous said...: GREED always wins.; July 28, 2008 8:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Avarice: Because the Love of Money is the root of all evil.; July 28, 2008 8:36 PM
Lost Cause said...: Pride. People can't even see this one. That is what pride does.; July 28, 2008 8:42 PM
Anonymous said...: All of them; in equally fatal doses.; July 28, 2008 8:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Generation Xers GREED

Oh please us Xers have nothing on the Boomers...you people are in charge and caused the trillions in deficits..you're the ones trying to sell you shitboxes at 1/2 million dollars...puhleeezzz my generation is drowning in student loans and mcjobs.; July 28, 2008 9:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Apathy and sheer stupidity. Don't know yet which contributed the most.; July 28, 2008 9:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Lady Di said...

GREED always wins.

In the short term yes, in the long term it always destroys, always.

Wait and see.; July 28, 2008 11:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Devestment said-
"A bunch of right-wing religious gibberish."

I paraphrase.

Our culture will never progress until people realize that it is not necessary to have an imaginary friend to be a moral and ethical person. Ethics and morality are not the exclusive religion and more often than not religions use their rules as a stick to keep people oppressed with the only carrot offered being all your dreams coming true after you die.

Religion has always been a tool of oppression and the fools like yourself who try to beat people up with your faith are the biggest tools in the toolbox.

And cowards too. Your actions are dictated by the prhase, "Because the bible tells me so." Right and wrong are objective, they are facts of reality not the creation of burning bushes or Nazarean magicians.

The problems in this country are not a result of not allowing prayer in schools they are the result too many generations brought up in the faith that believes that reading the bible or going to church makes you a good and moral person and that nothing else is required of you. Morality has nothing to do with reading a book of ghost stories or sitting on a wooden bench listening to a con man read from that book. And reciting some incantation is not going to make the spoiled brats in the public schools wonderful little angels.

The problem is not in the schools it is in the homes where Joe Six Pack and Jane Zinfandel are too busy coveting so they let the Disney Channel raise their kids to be greedy little consumers.

The purpose of public schools is to teach children how to read, write, do some math and a little science. The public schools are not there to make the little brats good people that is the job of the parents.

If you want your kids to pray in school send them to private school. Oh wait if you did that you might not be able to buy the McMansion, the Hummer and the 52" Plasma. They're called priorities and people who whine about prayer in school love the baby jebus right up to the point that it causes them to have to choose between self-indungent desires or spending money to have their own children educated in a faith based environment.; July 29, 2008 12:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Lust: STD's, teenage mothers on welfare, cheating in marrage.

Gluttony: Let's see, we have obese kids who already have diabetes.

Greed: (This doesn't even need to be explained.)

Sloth: People would rather resort to socialism to get money from other people instead of earning it.

Wrath: Iraq war...maybe Iran next.

Envy: Everyone has to drive a brand new $40,000 SUV to feel like they matter. So they "buy" it even though they can't afford it.

Pride: "Everything is fine, your all paranoid"; July 29, 2008 1:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Tangelo Mozilo and lost cause got it right: PRIDE.

Pride is not about keeping up with the Jones's; it is about one-upping the Jones's and rubbing their noses in it.

Even if it is all done with credit and debt, people want to show they have more than their neighbors.; July 29, 2008 1:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Whining Generation Xer's GREED; July 29, 2008 1:38 AM
Tracey Megerle said...: gluttony; July 29, 2008 2:04 AM
Devestment said...: In fact, allowing Rove and Bush to use religion to get elected CAUSED the problems in America.

Was it spiritual principal that ruined us or their deceptive religious posture?; July 29, 2008 2:33 AM
Anonymous said...: The Mexican...

It was Green by a span; July 29, 2008 3:48 AM
DCfred said...: the sin of usury.; July 29, 2008 4:35 AM
Anonymous said...: Meth.Kidding.
It was FEAR in all reality.
Fear of being left behind.Fear of not having enouph of anyting esential to living well.Fear of not being able to retire.Fear is behind your whole list.; July 29, 2008 5:17 AM
Anonymous said...: Greed and envy.; July 29, 2008 5:26 AM
Anonymous said...: envy and vanity; July 29, 2008 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...: .

jesus hates you said,

You may want to up the dosage of your medication!

"There will be scoffers and disbelievers, deceivers and profligates !

A True Christian knows that reading his Bible and going to Church doesn't make one morally perfect.
Just because a person believes in Christ doesn't make them perfect and that they will never sin.

It is in admitting 'we' are 'sinners', that in Faith and through His Grace we are saved!

You are correct in assuming that way too many use their beliefs as a 'I'm better than you card.

Just because someone becomes a believer doesn't mean they are 'touched from above' and will never do wrong or sin again!

We are all flawed human beings, the Bible gives us guidance and our Faith gives us Hope!

Who are we to Trust in here on earth?

Our government?

Paulson?

paraphrased ITim 1:15 Christ came to save sinners of whom I am the worst!

.; July 29, 2008 6:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Envy. Keeping up with the Joneses. Getting the bigger and "better" house -- the McMansions, grabnite countertops.

Greed was certainly a factor, but envy started the bubble.

You could make a case for pride. Because placing materialistic values above God -- or any spiritual value -- is the penultimate result of pride.; July 30, 2008 6:09 PM