The Great American Foreclosure Crisis

After telling us this election isn't about him (but us) what exactly is, as Barack Obama puts it, "The Change We Need"?

Let's do the hard stuff and look at one of the scariest words in the English language: Foreclosure.
The housing market is to blame for the financial crisis. Right?

The bad loans which became bad paper, which begat bad investment banks, which begat a global economy in turmoil...

But what caused us to take that bad loan?

Juliet Schor, sociologist and economist, wrote a book a decade ago titled, "The Overspent American". In it, we find out, "why we want what we don't need".

The answer? Because what we consume creates our identity.

Once was a time when Madmen tried to find the connection between what you consume and who you are, "What kind of woman buys instant coffee instead of fresh ground"? (56)

Now, "the brand defines the consumer." We express our individuality through mass-produced goods. And unfortunately, we are our fucking khakis.

Further, "research suggests that the more we have, the more powerful, confident, and socially validated we feel." (57)

Spending and consumption dictates our status and identity. What started as khakis, became a condo. Which maybe became a second (why not) condo. And all the right furnishings. And the right car in the garage. And the right wardrobe to wear while eating at the right restaurants.

Eventually the other Jimmy Choo dropped and now the housing market is buried in foreclosure.

Psychologist James Marcia created an identity development model in the 1960's which spun off Erik Erickson's stage-model of crisis negotiation.

According to Marcia, committing to a value system or identity before you get the chance to explore multiple values or identities is also called, "Foreclosure".

There is that word again.

The obvious question then becomes, "What is the relationship between one foreclosure crisis in America and the other?"

My hypothesis is this: Not only is our collective American identity the sum of our purchased parts-- we have no idea how else to be.

Shining Beacon on the Hill you say? What if I told you that was just another marketing jingle?

It seems bad, but I think it'll be alright. At very least, if everyone forecloses on their house, credit ruined, zero purchase power, we will be forced to explore a new identity.

And in the final analysis, at very least, we'll know the answer to one of life's great questions.