The virtue of greed on display again

It is interesting to hear priests and other religious leaders heaping praise on the "free market." They claim unregulated capitalism will free us from want and evil. Greed and virtue go hand in hand. What a hoot!

Here is how unregulated capitalism works in the real world. In 1998, our glorious political leadership removed much of the regulation of banks. Since that time, there has been a steady stream of bad behavior, not to mention economic catastrophes. I guess the bankers and brokers did not get the memo that the knights of the free market roundtable are supposed to be paragons of virtue.

To wit, J.P. Morgan Chase announced that they made a $2 billion blunder in May. CEO Jamie Dimon claimed the mishap was the fault of a few bad apples and there was no need for any stinking regulation. A little over a month later, it turns out the loss is likely to be at least $9 billion. Whoops. And here is the kicker. Larry Doyle, a former J.P. Morgan securities analyst, is saying something smells funny about this mess.

So many questions. So few real answers. Neither the morning news shows nor the major media outlets seem to want to draw real attention to this reported quadrupled loss.

I am compelled to repeat my question posed back in early May, “how do you know if/when Jamie Dimon is not telling the truth?” Did somebody say, “when his lips move?”

The experts on worshipping Mammon and God claim that if priests worship Mammon, then corporate leaders will give wads of cash to churches and worship God. This all sounds so familiar. Here is some of what God told Jeremiah to tell the people (Jeremiah 8:10-11):

From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.

What harm can possibly come from glorifying greed . . .