The Middle Road

In Frank Rich's piece, coincidentally entitled "Awake and Sing" on this Easter morning , he appears to be making the rather obvious point that the world is irreparably different in a post-TARP era. I have certainly felt more like an actor at the improv and less like an experienced instructor when I teach my class about the role of the Federal Reserve in our free-market economy. Rich argues that the new trend among Obama and others is to inspire a new generation of college graduates to seek a career that fulfills a "higher calling" and not just "higher" in the sense of a salary.

While this thought is very warm and fuzzy and while it is true that the rules have changed now in the market, greed will still remain a very primal and powerful incentive that drives people's decisions. Instead of trying to convince people to avoid greed altogether, we need to inspire a balance between self-interest and the altruistic motive. A middle road if you will. On the middle road, greed is still rewarded to the extent that it inspires innovation and efficiency but excessive greed is effectively discouraged.

How? Well, it all depends on the inevitability of excessive greed. Which leads me to a series of unanswerable questions just for you Jeffy: Do you think greed is built into our human DNA? Do you think we also have an altruistic motive built in? If not, do we have to rely on public pressure and government institutions to ensure we don't kill ourselves with greed?

I believe both motives are inherent in our genetic make-up which is why I have some faith in market mechanisms. However, Wall Street was a culture out of balance and unstable, a culture where markets cannot thrive. We need a middle road to achieve growth, prosperity, and stability--at least that will be the main point of my next best-selling book ;-).