Planet on extended loan.

The banking crisis got me wondering how, if I had an ounce of political power, I'd avoid it happening again.
Its too easy to say "The politicians should sort it out!" as they are just our elected representatives and electing someone does not mean we give up all responsibility.

In the UK one of the mortal dangers in life is getting a "bad credit rating" its like living in a racist society and suddenly finding you are now today one of those races.
Having a bad credit rating basically means you may not be able to borrow money, enter credit agreements, get access to some services or well have nice friends (probably).
Living "within your means" is a wholly ancient idea that only people who know what "doodle bug" meant can grasp.

So that's one of our main UK motivators for modern society.

Bankers. Bankers move money around and for doing that demand more money.
The incentive for most western bankers is money and the wolf nipping at the heals is "not enough money" moral compass is probably something poor people get at retirement.

In the UK right now there is no Christian hell and not much else to replace it. "Normal" is someone who borrows money, eats too much, lounges around on their credit bought sofa watching soap operas on their "extended payment terms" TV and leaves all societies navigation to a few slippery characters up in some fancy building in the capitol.

Never thought I'd feel this but we could do with a renewed sense of "moral peril"
Bankers of any level won't be going hungry and taking time in the wilderness reflecting on their actions they won't be bought to book by any living entity and probably have no fear of anything beyond this life so it will continue just the same.

The rise in radicalism and people investigating other belief systems may be partly as a backlash against the languid morally rudderless society we are becoming.
If the person or entity you are forced to align with to "live"
(credit rating companies, large corporations and banks)
has no moral fibre or affective self regulation other than profit then the individual has little encouragement to self control or improvement.

Societies values have to come from somewhere and if most of us aren't connecting with a church philosophy or other organisations that encourage personal discipline and improvement the rot is quiet but endemic.

If the moral void continues as is then something will fill it.
In my (simplistic) mind the best way to protect against radicalism and polarisation is for each and every one of us to find some common positive life values and to keep working at them.
Chose a belief system that has longer term goals than bankers and credit houses and maybe just maybe there will be something of value left when we come to pass the planet on to the next generation.