It seems that our brothers and sisters that are members of the feathered kingdom are very popular with the readers of timesofmalta.com. My piece on geese and ganders became the second most commented item in this part of the virtual jungle of the web. Such love and dedication is also witnessed by the fact that the number one in the Most Commented league is a piece about the shooting of protected members of the feathered kingdom and the number three a video clip of the shooting of another member of this kingdom i.e. a stork. Alas this is no longer the case! A blog entry written by an eminent member of a THAT profession ruined the whole symmetry. And to add insult to injury this happened on October 4 which happens to be the feast of the great animal lover St Francis of the ‘Brother Sun, Sister Moon’ fame. Some people have no respect at all.
Let me again this week sing the praises of our brothers and sisters: the beasts, especially the furry and the underdressed J i.e. cats and pigs. While I profusely apologise to all cats and pigs (and their owners), I propose to use these poor animals to label those who wreaked upon us the present international financial crisis. I hope these animals won’t hold it against me.
Greed – the root of this evil
One can consider the crisis from several perspectives and viewpoints but I think that few would doubt that greed was one of its (if not the most important) roots. The desire to voraciously covet more in the shortest possible time frame at the expense of others and with little regard towards the needs and the rights of others is at the heart of greed. A certain brand of practical atheism taints this attitude and behaviour. The greedy do not believe in a provident God who provides. They want to take Her place as the providers since they either fear that they won't have enough or because they do not believe that God will provide everything that we need.
For the extravagance of the few the many were sacrificed. Common folk who toiled and sweated to put something aside for their pension funds or a rainy day face abject poverty because of the excesses of unscrupulous financial dealers. As weeks and months pass by, the little folk will feel the pinch that will eventually become a punch. Meanwhile the Fat Cats and Greedy Pigs whose speculation coupled with irresponsibility drove up the price of fuel and food and caused all this hardship will most probably be still enjoying the ill-gained fruits of their greediness.
Recently, I listened to an interview on the BBC with a former financial dealer who now writes regularly about the excesses that are rife in this sector. He mentioned a case where four dealers took a weekend off in Ibiza, an island that is the byword for unbridled excess. They spent US$25,000 each mainly on prostitutes, drugs and the VIP places in the best nightclubs. The tab was picked up by the investors of the funds they manage!
Let me share with you some reflections on this crisis from the Christian perspective.
Unable to guarantee wealth
The September 24 edition of L'Osservatore Romano published an article by the Italian economist Ettore Gotti Tedeschi who teaches financial ethics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy.
Gotti’s criticism of our economic system (which I read through a report of CNS ) is scathing. "Despite various attempts, the Western world does not know how to map out a model of development that is capable of guaranteeing stable wealth.”
Gotti believes that the West has not succeeded with its new economy project; it did not succeed with accelerating growth in Asia by transferring low-cost production (there), and it did not succeed after inventing a boom in the GNP through risky financial models that were poorly conceived and badly regulated.
The Italian economist noted that in order to maintain this sham GNP, the banks financed projects that were not guaranteed and that should not have been financed, like sub-prime loans. Financial institutions created an economic growth out of debt and, therefore, (created something) very risky.
Capitalism: ability to self destruct
THE TABLET’s editorial of September 20 described the catastrophe under the title “Ill wind of greed.”
“The fate of Lehmans was a dramatic demonstration of the principle of moral hazard in financial markets. Those who take large risks should have to face proportionately large consequences if things go wrong; it is moral hazard to remove risk by removing those consequences, for instance by Government intervention, thus encouraging irresponsible behaviour. That has been one of the major arguments against interfering to alter the natural outcome of market forces. But another principle has had to be given even higher priority: that governments have to ensure that financial systems do not collapse altogether.”
The Tablet went on to write that these striking failures show that the capitalist system, has an inbuilt tendency for self-destruction. It concluded: “The proposition that the common good should always trump market forces, which is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching, has, albeit belatedly, been vindicated.”
Values before profit
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, added another tenet to the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church just referred to by The Tablet. In an address to the Italian chapter of the Aspen Institute, he said that when profit becomes the supreme value and when God is ignored the ability to recognise the common good wanes.
"When a person's only goal is his own quick profit and when short-term profit is practically identified as a good in itself, one ends up wiping out the profit itself," the Cardinal said.
Target Malta
We, being part of the world, are being affected and will continue to be affected negatively by this international crisis. Fortunately we are being assured that our financial institutions are strong enough to withstand the onslaught. We are lucky that this is so. But we have to guard against the enemy within. We witness among us clear signs of the ethos of greed and the glorification of personal and sectorial good above the common good. This ethos is the real enemy.
Till next time I wish you all good bye and good luck.