For anyone who has used a 12 Step program to overcome anything, this will sound familiar.  Being in the throes of an economic crisis, recovery should be on our collective mind.  It seems the media is flailing around, trying to point a finger at one single cause or source of our current crisis, but honestly, let’s take a look in the mirror.  We all had a hand in it to some degree, and only together will we see our way through it.

Step 1:  We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable. – For those of you who haven’t hit bottom just yet, you must still have some available credit somewhere.  We have been hopelessly addicted to credit; so much so that we have been building our economy on it since the early ‘80’s.  How does it go? “A house built upon sand…..”

Step 2:  Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity –   I was so impressed with the under-spending that took place during the holidays. A step in the right direction might be an economy not so dependent on credit or a population so comfortable living in debt. The temptation to refinance over and over or find the lowest possible payment regardless of the consequences won’t be so irresistible if keeping up with the Joneses isn’t quite as easy as swiping a card.

Step 3:  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our higher power – Do we really have much of a choice?  September 2007 and the events leading up to the subprime crisis pretty much decided it for us.  Now we have to trust that we as well as our elected officials and their appointees will make the right choices in shaping our economic future, which always has a direct effect on the housing market.  No jobs = no money = no house payment = less future economic stability.

Step 4:  Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves – This is always a tough one.  Okay, okay, people got stupid loans for homes they couldn’t afford and cars they couldn’t afford and got over-extended in credit card debt.  Most families are faced with mountain of debt disproportionate to their income.  We have created a credit monster, that will be tough to tame.

Step 5:  Admitted to our higher power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs – Impulsive, greedy, irresponsible, materialistic, uninformed, clueless; pick one and try it on for size.  Mama said don’t do it, and we went ahead and did it anyway.  “Mama” in this case could be your actual Mama, or history, or economists…really we had many fingers wagging under our noses.  I know one person who hasn’t been too terribly affected by the credit crunch…my Great Depression surviving mother-in-law.  Yep, she still hides cash in her pantry.  It’s time for us 40 somethings and younger to take a page from Mama’s book.

Step 6:  Were entirely ready to have our higher power remove all these defects of character – Amen!  Take out the trash!  Raise your hand if you’re all out of equity and your credit cards are maxxed.  Did you learn your lesson?  Credit cards aren’t for grocery getting and houses are not ATM’s and subprime mortgages are not something to make a side bet on (see Step 10 below about credit swaps).  The nice thing about real estate, though, is that if you hold it long enough it will eventually appreciate.  So hang in there, if you can.

Step 7:  Humbly asked our higher power to remove our shortcomings – Help is certainly on the way.  All the pieces are in place to help distressed homeowners, distressed businesses, and slowly heal our economy.  And, I have to say that I am very impressed that the Portland community really seems to be pulling together to help those in need.  We are all going to have to readjust our expectations and appetites, and change a few spending habits.  Might I suggest the “Finish Rich” series of books.

Step 8:  Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all – Wow, this could take a while.  Let’s start with retirees, teachers, public servants, entire small towns, and industrial communities?  The list will grow as our current crisis continues to ripple through our nation, and the world.  But the willingness to help certainly seems to be there for those truly in need.  This does not mean you, auto industry execs with private jets.  (Favorite quote: “Couldn’t you have jet pooled or something?” from Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York.)

Step 9:  Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others – It appears we are in process with this one, but the sooner the better for those retirees, teachers, public servants, military families.  There are some interesting new house bills just passed and in the works that will give mortgage banks more flexibility in helping out distressed families, but read the fine print because Uncle Sam covers his hind end, as he should.  Here’s more about “Hope for Homeowners”.

Step 10:  Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it – Only time will tell with this one.  Did you know a form of credit swaps nearly brought our economy to its knees in the early 1900’s, and then were made illegal until 2000, when they were passed without debate on Christmas Eve?  Google “credit swaps”, but caution, it’ll turn your stomach.  There’s a good TIME article dated March, 2008.

Step 11:  Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our higher power as we understood our higher power, praying only for knowledge of our higher power’s will for us and the power to carry that out – I think we voters sent a pretty clear message November 4^th.  I’m just sayin’.  Regardless of who you voted for, stay involved any way you can.  Whether it’s reading to kids or writing letters to politicians or just going to city meetings and voting, your efforts do make a difference.

Step 12:  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs – Please, let’s all try to be a bit more responsible moving forward.  Economic growth and appreciating property values are good, and necessary, but anything in excess is not healthy and eventually will have to be paid for.  This is an event that is shaping this generation.  Our kids and grandkids will read about it in history books.  Let’s make sure they don’t repeat our mistakes.

Opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of author, and not to necessarily the opinions of Meadows Group Inc.
All rights reserved on all original content, non-original content is given credit | Michelle Berry | 2009