The foremost ethical question is, given that we owe most of our productivity to a common social inheritance, to what extent can we say that we have "earned" our personal wealth? There is a growing consensus in favor of a more robust public compact.

The famous school of economics at the University of Chicago led by
the late Milton Friedman spread its market fundamentalism
worldwide. Greed, selfishness, individualism and short-termism were
conflated with freedom and democracy and elevated to the status of
moral philosophy. The fatal flaws of this ideology fueled the
reckless risk-taking, greed and arrogance that led to Wall Street's
downfall.

The cause for the current misery is not to be sought in the huge
over-valuation of financial markets; the latter was itself not a
cause but an effect, a mechanism aimed at avoiding the real,
underlying crisis with which capitalist society has been confronted
since the 1970s.

The prevailing exclusionary logic of selfishness has at times crippled the ability of the General Assembly to fulfill its mandate. This logic must be transformed. All of us without exception share responsibility for the state of the world.

Insight on the Economic Meltdown.
Joseph Stiglitz talks about misplaced priorities in handling the economic meltdown and what we should do next.

"Everything was possible because the banks had to be rescued. So will someone now call free trade into question, free trade which is the very heart of the system? Utopian? But everythiing is possible when it comes to banks…"

The New York Times described the election of Obama as a "national catharsis" - a return to the American dream that was destroyed - politically, economically and socially - under Bush. And now the country hopes to rediscover its belief in itself.

In a nation founded on genocide and then built on the backs of
slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity:
Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change
to Washington and the majority of the country liked that idea.