The Debt Crisis and the Loss of Freedom: A Call for Moral Imagination

Abstract

The author posits that the value of individual freedom is best realized within the context of the Moral Imagination concept of philosopher Rudolph Steiner and that when freedom is seen more as a licence for deception and exploitation not only does the greater community suffer but also the party itself suffers character destruction. Thus, laissez-faire capitalism, as exemplified by the mortgage banking meltdown of 2008 and subsequent debt-based unemployment crisis, has not only impoverished millions, destroyed savings and bankrupted long-established investment firms, but also has further bonded the perpetrators to the morally undeveloped self-centredness of Lawrence Kohlberg’s least advanced moral stage (Kohlberg, 1981). Following a discussion of the folly and futility of the consumerist culture, the author argues that the solution lies in practicing the time tested values of caring and social responsibility on the part of government and mortgage bankers coupled with self-restraint and moderation on the part of investors and borrowers.