Altruism And the Economic Crises

But what is ironic is what was thrown into all this, causing this beleaguered system to collapse. The last straw ironically was what I call compassionate economics played by compassionate members of the government. In the 90's financial institutions were urged, but more like pressured, into lending practices that went against the grain of capitalism, lending to people who could not afford simply because they needed housing. During that time, the "bad" practice of "redlining" was thrown around Congress. This is the banks' idea of profiling, lending only to those who can afford and have the means. Since most of those hit by this were minorities, Congress put its foot down and went after banks that did this.

Did you know that illegal aliens were allowed and given mortgages,
and even had more lax standards to follow?

This was the birth of sub-prime mortgages, lending to those who
couldn't afford them. Of course, many in the upper classes also
availed of these. And why not? Remember no "redlining".

The sub-prime mess brought us the credit squeeze, and now the
collapse of the financial institutions.

So in effect, Christianity and its avowed altruistic pursuits also
had a role in all this. The noble virtue of compassion backfired.