Belief and the credit crisis.(commentary)

Watching President Barack Obama's address to a Joint Session of Congress back in February, I couldn't help but feel like he was talking specifically to credit and financial professionals like you. "The flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy," he said. "The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education, how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment and businesses make payroll."

"But credit has stopped flowing the way it should," he said, grimly referring to the crisis currently gripping the markets. He then turned to those responsible for this recession, making no excuses for one side or the other. "The fact is our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. Though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before," he said. "In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election."

What struck me about his speech wasn't his tone or his decision not to solely blame businesses, lenders or the previous administration. What struck me was that the lesson Obama tried to impart to his listeners that night was one that all good credit managers know: that shortsighted, quickly-made and ill-considered selling isn't good business. Now, after a lengthy period of economic stress, the country as a whole is awakening to this fact, learning what B2B credit professionals have known for so long: sound financial management is the key to long-term economic health. In his remarks, more than simply reiterating the importance of credit, Obama ...