Can Bankers Be Saved?

Abstract

The abrupt question had such immediate reference to the subject of Mr Dombey's thoughts, that Mr Dombey was quite disconcerted. 'What is money, Paul,' he answered. 'Money?' 'Yes,' said the child ... 'what is money?' Mr Dombey was in a difficulty. He would have liked to give him some explanation involving the terms circulating-medium, currency, depreciation of currency, paper, bullion, rates of exchange, value of precious metals in the market, and so forth; but looking down at the little chair, and seeing what a long way down it was, he answered: 'Gold, and silver, and copper. Guineas, shillings, half-pence. You know what they are?' 'Oh, yes. I know what they are,' said Paul. 'I don't mean that, papa. I mean, what's money after all?' ... 'What's money after all!' said Mr Dombey, backing his chair a little, that he might the better gaze in sheer amazement at the presumptuous atom that propounded such an inquiry. 'I mean, papa, what can it do?' returned Paul ... Mr Dombey drew his chair back to its former place, and patted him on the head. 'You'll know better by and by, my man', he said. 'Money, Paul, can do anything.'We are all familiar with Dickens' ironic morality tale, and it makes us smile, as it was intended to do. But here is J. K. Galbraith, at the end of his history of economics, explaining the problem with Milton Friedman's monetarism:There was a further, more grievous difficulty with the Friedman prescription ... and that was that no one knew with certainty what, in the modern economy, is money.' 1

God's fund managers

“…In the context of Matthew 6:24, regarding serving God or Mammon, it is also argued by Gorringe (2001) that although individuals within financial institutions need not be greedy at all, "the system is greedy on their behalf". It may be possible to refer again to the doctrine of engagement as a way to resolve these tensions or, like Angus (1992, see also Sider, 1987, point out the distinction between what he suggests is the positive activity of wealth creation and the negative activity of "amassing riches".…”

“…This moral position makes claims about the inviolability of private property difficult to sustain (Schweiker, 1993). Gorringe (2001) also points out that the actual act of investing in the stock market, whether ethically or otherwise, may be theologically questionable. He contends that active stock market investment is often similar to gambling and he argues that there is "a vast chasm" between the profit maximisation objectives of the businesses held in Church ethical funds and their agapistic objectives of "meeting human needs".…”

“…Indeed, one interviewee mentioned that critics within the Methodist Church have argued that "we should not have a capitalist system, possibly, certainly not pensions the way they are invested". Ultimately, Jacob (1979), Moore (1988), Eskola (2000) and Gorringe (2001) all make the same point: the values underlying financial utilitarianism, which tend to give money and self-interest primacy can be challenged as fundamentally unethical from the same theological principles espoused by the church ethical investment movement (Centre for Theology and Public Issues, 1992). Sider (1987) argues that "Christians of all theological labels have bowed the knee to mammon" and Jones (1984) concludes that theology is pressing the C of E to regain a sense of "God's bias towards the poor".…”