by the Man in the Bowler Hat
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness…
This quote from “The Old Testament” is as good a place as any to start a discussion about banking because just like religion, “money” is one of the top things people worship and trusting a bank with your money requires a leap of faith.
Consider that a recent gallup poll indicates that about nine in 10 Americans say they believe in God, and one in 10 say they do not AND another gallup poll indicates that money and happiness go hand-in-hand. Taken together these polls raise the interesting question, do believers and non-believers actually share a common trait, namely the worshiping of “Money?”
Back in the 18th Century, churches reflected the customs and traditions as well as the wealth and social status of the denominations that built them here in the United States. Fast forward to the post World War II era, when it seems instead of keeping holy the Sabbath day by going to church (which is the third commandment) on any given Sunday it seems an even greater number of people go shopping.
Since the third commandment is to “observe the sabbath day,” ponder for a moment the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Now look around the town or city where you live and note what you see. I’ll guess what isn’t being built are churches. Instead I’d bet what you will see more of is things like stores or shopping malls where people are encouraged to participate in various forms of consumerism!
You might not have thought about it but different religions, share the trait of calling upon believers to look inward. For example, before the dismal science (of economics) existed, religious leaders in different cultures were the de facto counter balance to absolute rulers. The “kings” who might have had little respect for their subjects, were sort of kept in check by being reminded there might be a supernatural power that one had to answer to (for one's misdeeds).
Switching to the present time, it might be argued an evil opposite of the holy trinity, keeps individuals addicted to consumerism. They (bankers, politicians and corporations) do this by spreading a false narrative, in other words using slick “advertising” (which encourages instant gratification and belittles the impacts of consumption on the environment and society as a whole). Sadly its not an easy task to reveal the dark big picture because an economic framework that ties in history, etc., is needed to connect the dots.
"…There must be discipline in the allocation of resources or you will have anarchistic chaos and inefficiency. One of the functions of old fashion religion was to scare people by sometimes what might be regarded as myths into behaving in a way that the long run civilized life requires. We have taken away a belief in the intrinsic necessity of balancing the budget if not in evey year, in evey short period of time…"
Paul Samuelson (MIT Prof. of economics)
Continuing on and looking at the too big to fail banks, we see various self interested parties have created a system which has evolved to be overly complicated and disproportionately enriches only a few at the top. For example, in a system where banks control money, various bankers are enriched first. Next bankers give campaign contributions to lawmakers who are then encouraged to create a business environment that benefits corporations and shareholders. This in itself isn’t a bad thing; however, since we live in a closed system and given basic human nature (with the trait that demand will always be greater than supply), eventually something has to give. Some say trickle-down economics (which is the idea that tax cuts and other financial incentives for companies and individuals in the upper tiers of society fuel growth that indirectly benefits everyone) is the answer, but it seems this theory is unappreciated by many on the lower end of the food chain who only get the crumbs after fat cats eat the cake.
Bottom line, too often the idea of supply and demand is lost and ignored by the 1% (essentially all the bankers, politicians and leaders of corporations) as well as many in the 99% who seem to envy the lifestyles of the 1%. Said another way, too many people use credit to live an unsustainable lifestyle which is why there are problems in the economy and society. Basically the questions few dare to ask are: what is the price we pay for trying to have it all and how much land (or money) do we really need.
Next time, what is the triple bottom line?
