God Damn Wall Street!
Ok, I had to get a little Jeremiah Wright off my chest because the disgusting behavior of Wall Street while our economy crumbles has made it tough to maintain equanimity.
The rip off disgrace of Bernie Madoff, the spa adventures of government bailed-out AIG, the $100,000 office antics of Merrill Lynch's John Thain, - these have been enough to wish for some good old fashioned Divine judgment. But now the New York Times recently reported that hefty bonuses were awarded on Wall Street:
"Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.
That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller."
The sixth largest haul in what people are called the next great depression! What exactly have the Wall Street employees accomplished for which they should be awarded bonuses? There is a complete disconnect between the bubble of downtown Manhattan and the rest of the country which faces foreclosures, rising poverty, and unemployment figures that will likely reach double digits in the coming year. It is time for some deep soul searching among those who just got these fat bonuses in this time of crisis.
I do not pretend to speak to people of any other faith, but as a pastor I encourage any Christians who got a bonus this year to give 100 percent of your bonus to the charity of your choice. Maybe a job center, a foodbank or a public health care facility. Like the rich young man, you are loving money too much and your greed is a stumbling block to your own salvation. This is your opportunity to respond to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25 and help those who are hungry, sick, captive, and naked. Repent, before it is too late. Save your soul, and help your fellow citizens while you are at it.
Cross posted from Beliefnet's Progressive Revival Blog
Follow Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raushenbush
FYI - An awful lot of people don't believe in hocus pocus. The people you're addressing aren't worried about your silly notions of salvation. You need to try some other way to shame them.
Only Jail Stops them.
Hm. I mean, the page or so of posts bashing Wall Street greed, and the block-long threads accompanying them.
(3/4 page? Yard-long threads?)
Neither can be accomplished.
I have a friend who owns a large industrial hardware business. He has 3 job estimator/sales reps who are paid bonuses on the jobs they land. If they bid it right and the company gets the work, they get a bonus---IF at the end of the year the company has made enough profit above and beyond operating expenses, salaries, overhead etc.
It's a fair system of incentives and rewards and has worked for them and in many similar industries, forever. This is the first time I've heard a salesguy claim a bonus when the company is in the tank. I can almost hear him saying, "But, but, but, I did a good job!" Yeah, and keep it up. Next year if the company makes a profit, you can all share in it.
This year? Tough luck.
Where else (except possibly the Government) would you reward the very people who destroyed your company?!
the outrage over the hubris and greed of these wharton boys...seems to be Balkanized..I mean..many of us are LIVID...but not organized... I'm not for lynching..but don't understand why there are not long long PRISON sentences for these white collar thugs... YES..they've done more economic damage than the zealots flying those planes into the Twin Towers... Billions more...yet...they continue to "not get it"..B of A....millions spent on the Superbowl? Citigroup..taking delivery of their new jet? Merril's office redo..with OUR money? how can you get a bonus..if there is no profit?
I put much (not all) of the blame on Clinton and Rubin...Glass Stegall was necessary...but...rubin took care of that...and duh...Bush just let the corruption grow and grow.
I hope Obama can at least start the healing process....as it will take more than 8 years to fix this mess..
2. Almost everyone in America is rich by Biblical standards.
3. Therefore, we're all going to hell anyway.
Q.E.D.
But hate a man who tell you the truth because of the words he uses to project his anger and discuss.
Never mind he was a decorated Veteran he should have used more delicate words so he could be ignored easier.
REV. WRIGHT HAD IT RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!
And don't blame Wall Street. That's just a nice convenient target quite popular in the mainstream press these days and parroted by the uninformed, television addicted American sheeples .
Blame the CENTRAL BANKERS of the FEDERAL RESERVE who collude with all other central banks in the world to continue the criminal practice of FRACTIONAL RESERVE Banking.
I'll bet you don't have any idea what that is.
So study the Austrian theory of economics taught at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Here is the link: http://mises.org/
THAT is what this bailout and ruined economy is all about. Taking more control of the money supply and then driving inflation up which only benefits the first receivers of the bailout money.
And who was that? ...That's right...It was the banks.
You can thank me later.
Ron Paul is my president
Many many millions of shares sold off by the excutives of all the companys that are getting bailouts and not one word from the SEC as to " WHY ARE YOU SELLING OFF ALL THIS STOCK ",
" Is there something happening that Investor shoudl know that only INSIDERS KNOW ???????"
Mr. Raushenbush, while I share your sentiments on Wall Street greed, and I'll even believe that you, personally, may very well be a selfless individual, I am not at all impressed or convinced by the Church's deeds either.
I have some vague recollection of some long-haired dude having something to say about glass houses...
To be fair, however, I didn't mean to only cite Catholicism, or even Christianity. While there are lots of good deeds done by various churches and religions, I still maintain that religion does way more harm than it does good. If you disagree, well, then you disagree.
Still, from what I've read, which is quite a lot, more people have been killed in the name of god than from any other cause. I guess you "liberal Christians" might wish it weren't so, and I respect you for trying to do good deeds in the name of what you believe. But I still maintain that more harm is done than good, not to mention more division, hate, etc.
And while you can be all sanctimonious about some church in some particular locale, I defy you to refute my comment about the perverse wealth of St. Peters and the RC Church.
The outrage and anger over the handing of tax money to the rich (if it can even be labeled outrage)? By comparison, a trickle.
And this thread has already moved in the inevitable direction of blaming religion for the mess we're in. I'm surprised it took this long, actually.
Maybe our biggest problem is a left that finds prayer in public more of a problem than abuse of power by the wealthy and privileged.
as these supposedly "Americans" did, yet they are being rewarded and bailed out.
Something is wrong!!!
Depends on where you live (and when), and what kind of emotions your situation invokes.