Idea Management

A metaphor of baseball and banks

As I write this, I’m finding many analogies out there between the economy and the steroids epidemic in baseball. Each of those comparisons liken the stimulus to steroids. However, I think the analogy works better when going back a little further. The stimulus is the government’s attempt to make up ground for its lack of oversight, just as Selig is attempting to fix the reputation of baseball. The stimulus is not the drug that bloated our country with a false sense of prosperity. It was greed!

There are plenty of articles and books you can read to gain a fuller understanding of what happened with our economy. I’m not attempting to tackle that monster in this post. I just want to draw a few comparisons - and in that maybe others can have a new perspective for ways we can work ourselves out of it.

The steroids issue in baseball is not a collection of a few isolated instances. When all of the top players are being slapped with charges of use, we must realize that those are not the only instances. They’re the “roaches” (when you see one there are thousands more you don’t see.) Instead, the steroids in baseball issue is much more of a systemic culture that permeates the sport.

I don’t blame the players that used steroids. I believe they need to be held accountable - but I understand their dilemma. Long before steroids, there has been an increasingly narrowed gap between good talent and greatness. To move towards greatness, many people just needed that edge - that extra something that meant fame and fortune in the majors or middle-class mediocrity in the minors. That “edge” was found in many forms: from hard work, more focus and strategy, to performance enhancing supplements: from substances that provided more energy, to amphetamines, to steroids (with a lot of other steps in between).

So, when those advantages started creeping in to the illegal or unethical and the abuses became unchecked and ignored - players on an even playing field who otherwise would be great were now simply good. A line was beginning to blur. Some players’ livelihood was at stake. If they were in the majors, they would make 6- or 7-figures. In the minors that would drop down to 5-figures. Those players now in the majors were threatening the status of those players with natural talent that may have been on the bubble. And now, with those players enhanced, the accomplishments of great players were being compromised.

Baseball owners were seeing a benefit from all of this. Fans were happier and more revenue was coming to their clubs. There was an increasingly unhealthy system that had to eventually collapse. But, as long as everything was fine, there was no need to disturb the upward mobility.

In the economic world, especially in regards to mortgages, we had our own steroids issues in the form of bad loans. Greed permeated our culture - from those that “had not” and wanted to act as if they “had” - and those that “had” now needed to upgrade their own status.

Banks had that need to compete as well. Without the steroids, their numbers were suffering. In order to compete, they ignored the long-proven health risks and took on the bad loans. This created all sorts of illusions as new homes were being built at uncharted levels to meet demands - creating a false demand and sense of economic prosperity.

And the owners (the politicians) had to turn a blind eye. Their constituents were happy. The economy was booming. And what if this could be sustained forever? What if the health risks were a part of that old-economy? To mess with the new equation could mean the loss of their position. In fact, standards had to be loosened even more to accommodate the sheer amount of greed.

So, I believe these similarities don’t end with common symptoms. I believe the metaphor can continue on into considering new solutions. And those solutions to both dilemmas might be found in an even scarier metaphor we’ll examine a little later: drug abuse.

We’ve recognized the problem. But we can’t afford to misdiagnose the underlying issues beyond the steroid use. We have to examine our greed! We have to go back to the basics and look at what makes up a strong, healthy economy: production and innovation. Real production of goods and services that actually benefit our fellow-man. Not fake goods and services that help line the pocket books of those savvy enough to find a loop-hole in the system.

Greed will continue to erode the health of our economy. From corporate lust to excessive capitalism to lazy entitlements - greed touches each and every one of us. Don’t be fooled. There will always be greed as people begin to find that edge once again. But if that edge is a false substance that doesn’t lead to a healthier existence, then we all suffer. We have to reject greed in all of it’s destructive forms and we need to ask ourselves individually and as a society: are we living to create a better life for each other - or are we living to satisfy our own lusts?