Mammon on parade

Payscale has just released its annual list of the most obscenely paid corporate leaders. A bit of background is in order. In 1970, the average CEO was paid about 40 times the median salary of the company's employees. Two decades later, the CEO to worker pay ratio had climbed to nearly 200. In 2012 it reached 354 times. Non-executive pay in this country has essentially stagnated over the past four decades and living wage jobs have been exported to cheap labor markets by the boatload.

The narrative in this country is we live in a "meritocracy." That is, the men and women at the top have "earned" their bloated paychecks, although they get fists full of cash whether their company succeeds or fails. These are supposed to be our role models. Our children should want to grow up and fight their way up the corporate ladder like these gilded idols.

Take a closer look. At the top of the list is the CEO of Walmart, who is paid a mere 1000 times what the average worker in the company makes. This is the same company that put family-owned retail stores out of business all over rural America. Between factory farms and Walmartification, poverty is now all too common in small towns all over the country. And despite $15 to 20 billion in profits every year, Walmart pays most of its retail staff less than $8 an hour, keeps their hours low, and provides few benefits.

You also find Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase. His company has been a part of the largest financial scandals of the past decade, including the 1.5$ trillion LIBOR rate rigging scheme, the mortgage bundling mess at the heart of the housing market crash, energy trading scams, price fixing in the commodity markets, and the "London Whale" scam that cost the company over $6 billion dollars (not counting the $920 million fine for misbehavior). Despite the parade of scandals, this company was bailed out by the taxpayers and Dimon was paid $19 million in salary last year (not counting tens of millions in stock options and benefits).

If my child grew up to look like the people at the top of this list, I would consider myself a complete failure as a parent. These are people who simply do not care how much suffering they create with destructive and even dishonest practices. Their companies now spend millions every year to corrupt politicians and our political process to detriment of our democracy. Market value has replaced values in our society.

This is what I think a hero looks like.

This man is a 55-year-old pastor of a small church on the south side of Chicago. The beautiful child in his lap is his partially blind granddaughter. I meet him an interfaith picnic a few months ago. He spends his time trying to mentor young people in his community and help them find ways off the street and away from gangs. He and his lovely wife have created pop-up festivals, community gardens, and helped rehabilitate abandoned buildings. His faith is alive. You can see Jesus in him (although he is far too humble to accept that characterization).

He describes the challenge in reaching young people in his community as the most difficult thing he has ever tried to do. They describe pursuing an education and a job as "old school" with little chance of success. The only successful entrepreneurs they see in the community are drug dealers. These kids have become numb to the violence all around them..

The values in our society have become perverse. Greed wins out over compassion and justice. Cut-throat competition wins out over cooperation and community. Materialism wins out over people and God. We need Christ more than ever but younger generations are turning away from organized religion in droves.

Take a good look at the suffering all around us and the dark clouds on the horizon. We, the body of Christ, have work to do. Not the kind of work that our society recognizes and rewards, but the kind that finds favor in the eyes of God.