Sackcloth and Ashes on Wall Street

Yesterday I heard Cokie Roberts on ABC's This Week say: "I'd like to see the CEOs of these companies marched down Wall Street in sackcloth and ashes." In all the words that were written and spoken this weekend, those were perhaps the most appropriate and even prophetic.

The proposed bailout of Wall Street banks gives unprecedented power to one man -- Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury. The reported legislative proposal authorizes $700 billion dollars and includes:

The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Think about that -- any action deemed necessary, with no review, and a report to Congress only every six months. Although we have known for some time that the real power in America was with Wall St. banks rather than elected officials, last week it became crystal clear when one man, himself a former investment banker, was put in charge of America's future.

As another week begins and the bailout package is debated, there are three things that Congress should make non-negotiable in any agreement.

There must be relief for homeowners in danger of having their mortgages foreclosed. We cannot simply bail out those who created the problem and benefited from it without also helping those who continue to suffer from it.

There must be some limit on executive compensation. Those who have already made millions in what the New York Times called "an era of high finance that defined the modern Gilded Age" should not further benefit. William Kristol, with whom I rarely agree on anything, had a good idea this morning:

"Any institution selling securities under this legislation to the Treasury Department shall not be allowed to compensate any officer or employee with a higher salary next year than that paid the president of the United States." This would punish overpaid Wall Streeters and, more important, limit participation in the bailout to institutions really in trouble.

There must be accountability. If such large sums of taxpayer money are being risked, the elected representatives of the people must have meaningful oversight.

Last week, I wrote:

The behavior of too many on Wall Street is a violation of biblical ethics. The teachings of Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths condemn the greed, selfishness, and cheating that have been revealed in corporate behavior over decades now, and denounce their callous mistreatment of employees. Read your Bible.

As we begin another week, here's a text to ponder - Micah 2:1-4 - with God's message to Wall Street.

Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance. Therefore, the Lord says: "I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity. In that day men will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: 'We are utterly ruined; my people's possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.'"

Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.

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Comments

[macohmz]

The Lord is always making threats against those who take advantage of the weak but nothing seems to come of it. Look at Bush. He proclaimed to everyone he was "born-again Christian". Then he proceeded to gut the nation of millions of jobs. His relationship with the Prince of Peace didn't stop him from robbing from the poor and giving it to the rich. Or creating a needless, senseless war. Many Christians can't get over some egregious sin they committed in the past. Look at Bush and the republicans. They lie like hell. They steal on behalf of their wealthy pals. Anything that smacks of populism they immediately shoot down. Behind the scenes they indulge in all kinds of weird sexual practices and yet, they own God and Jesus Christ. Do you think they grieve over some sin they committed in the past (the very recent past)? No. They have the comfort and support of their rich corporate friends. I hate them.

[Nova16]

The powers given to the Sec of Treasury appear to be martial law in the financial world. If no plan is forthcoming to forestall the inevitable collapse where will the next application of martial law occur?

[research]

Suspend the debate, suspend the campaign, suspend the election.

[ebanks84]

I can't believe the boob tube has changed our focus from the most disastrous times in our market to world leaders who don't mean jack to the average joe.

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN3_wm.aspx

Listen to the rest of the c-span coverage at the link above.

[TheAlchemist]

Our current state of affairs reminds me of a scene where a certain someone entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers...

[All in All]

Well said indeed!

[StateofTaxes]

"Sack Cloth and Ashes"..., TAR AND FEATHER, and save some of that for the US Congressmen/women who dare to push this thing thur so they can go on their way with important things(like getting reelected to the position of overseeing ; CHECKS AND BALANCES of this Government.) Actually, why bother, if you'd been doing you're job, this wouldn't have happened, and you wouldn't be mulling over handing over, with NO ACCOUNTABILITY, NO QUESTIONS, to Mr. Paulson; President Bush's employee, and we all know where that bridge goes, a blank check. This is UN-F-ING believable; it hasn't been that long ago that you wise people of Congress were having about a ..10 year?, debate, over raising the minimum wage in this Country, and most of you thought that 5.15 an hour was plenty fair, DENIED, until you mulled it over again until nearly reeclection time and decided it might not be such a bad idea.Yes, my Texas Senators, you were at the head of the "DENY COMMITTEE". Sack Cloth and Ashes..HA! How about those Big Prisons you spend our big Dollars for???

[maxpayne]

Wallis, you da man. You speak well and all but the damage beyond repair is already done and

GOD IS PUNISHING AMERICA FOR BORROWING FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO FINANCE ENDLESS WARS AND TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY/CORPORATE ELITES AND WALL $TREET !

[Yalegirl03]

Great post! However I wonder is the sackcloth should be limited to Congress. I think McCain and all of his colleagues who have been selling the snakeoil of deregulation for years should also put on some itchy pants and shirts and take responsibility for this crisis. They have been selling this country for years to their rich CEO and Wall Street friends and taking out a predatory loan from China that has our country in this mess. I shudder to think where this $700 billion will magically appear from, although I think I know. When turning a blind eye to the practice of building an economy on the foundation of crappy loans got us into this, why should we authorize the government to take out another crappy $700billion loan from China and then forbid ourselves from properly overseeing the management of it? Isn't that the definition of insanity?--Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time?

[AshevilleVoice]

Love how you tied in the verse from Micah! Very auspicious.

Corruption, greed, and selfishness are not new to the human story.

It is easy to want the CEOs to wear sackcloth, but who among us is so sure of their own innocence? Who has not invested in and banked with and benefited from this same system all our lives? Is it really okay to collect our 5% or 10% or even 1% interest from a system that is willing to wreak unthinkable pain upon some so that others can profit? If we benefit less than $400,000 this year for our part in it, are we righteous enough to stone the CEOs?

For me, this has become a time of personal assessment. I'm taking a hard look at where my money has been invested, and I'm using this crisis as a time to make more conscious choices. Because the crimes aren't just that Wall Street failed to make us all the expected profits this year. The moral failure has been there all along.

[Nec V20]

Mr. Wallis,

first of all I have to preface this post with my opinion that there are too many religious morons in the US.

Secondly you are chasing an ambulance rather than addressing any issue.

Redemption will start with the small and not by "regulating" the large.

Here's a proposal which would actually work.

Radically increase Social Security! The money goes exactly where it is needed in exactly the regions where financial aid is needed most, and those people will spend it in the economy instead of putting it into dubious speculation. This includes increasing minimum wage to $10 immediately.

Universal Health Care! HMOs were created to screw the insured. There is a tape recording of Ehrlichman and Nixon documenting exactly how the ill were going to be cut out of the medical treatment they need.

Increase Tax! No more bullshit about tax cuts. Above all no more tax exemption for "religious institutions". Scientology screws its members for cash. It's time to screw them back.

America is living off the infrastructure that the grandparents created and passing the cost of the now onto the children and grandchildren. The US in the here and now is a betrayal of the noble past and a craven legacy to those yet unborn

[Pendragon2008]

Here's a proposal to start America on the road to recovery.

ARREST Bush, Cheney and these other lying, cheating crooks and throw them in JAIL where they belong.

That will go a long way to keeping up the nation's morale during the coming Depression that these thieves have engineered, and restore a bit of the world's faith in America that it has lost over these last 8, disastrous years.

[passandr]

I love your idea of limiting the pay of CEOs who participate in this plan to the salary of the President of the United States. But, I think it might lead to greater problems when everybody who has CEO experience resigns and lives on the great hordes of money that they've already accumulated.

Andrew Pass
http://www.pass-ed.com/blogger.html

[Pendragon2008]

The CEO's are complicit in criminal fraud, the usual crime for those who deal bad AAA+ rated financial products. There's no reason at all why they shouldn't see jail time, and not a single penny.

In fact, perhaps they should be required to part with some of that vast wealth they have accumulated off of the suffering and loss of others, in order to fix this crisis?

I see no reason whatsoever for the taxpayer - largely fiscally responsible Americans - to foot the bill for liars, cheats and criminals.

[TheAlchemist]

I'd like to see all the execs compensated with their own failing stock.

[957]

One person in the house of reps. has got it right watch rep. Marcy Kaptur tell it like it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds

[TheAlchemist]

You go gal. Keep up the good work Rep Kaptur

[sher2x4]

You can not imagine how depressed i am.
This is more than horrible.
GHU

[estern53]

The banks are like sulky teenagers who have had to go back to their parents to ask for money and maybe move back in their house - although the teens are normally complaining about their parents not giving them any freedoms - all the while telling their friends that it's not going to stop them going out partying and doing what they have the right to do..

[mommadona]

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

That goes across religious "flavors of the day".

It's the proclamation on HUMANE beings.

Wall Street is feral.
They gladly eat their own.