However else one understands a doctrine of original sin (even to reject the notion), evidence abounds that humans left to themselves (“self-regulating” is the mantra) manage to muck things up rather badly. Alan Greenspan, long the undisputed oracle of all things monetary, displayed incredible naivete in his recent testimony before the House Oversight Committee. Responding to the Committee’s inquiry into the why and the wherefore of the horrendous banking meltdown, he said, “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief.â Another bubble burst.
Well, duh. Is he really that clueless about human nature? Has he never heard of the foxes keeping watch over the henhouse? Did he learn nothing about human nature from the downfall of Enron and good Baptist deacons like Ken Lay or Bernie Ebbers? How did all these “goodness of greed” guys come out?
Now the latest scandal, crisis, theft-on-a-global-scale thing is the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC $50 billion scam. A number of Jewish charitable foundations and institutions, not to mention big banks around the world, entrusted billions to Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. He, after all, was one of the good guys, active in promoting Jewish charities. He was even a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market. Big investors — including people like Steven Spielberg, who has lost millions — trusted him as one of them. So did some of the little people who put their life savings in his hands. Who, after all, are you gonna trust?
One is tempted to quote Ronald Reagan, whose “trust but verify” is apparently not part of his legacy in the bizarre world of big funny money folks. They clearly prefer “trust and don’t ask.” Deregulation is part of that heritage, at the heart of the economic mess we’re in. While the SEC fiddled, a good time was had by all. And we’re all reaping what the connivers sowed. There were no watchers to be watched.
Our churches tend to focus on personal sins, if they bring up the subject at all in this day of sermons and pep-talks dominated by the current gospels of self-fulfillment, finding your life purpose, and experiencing “your best life now.” We could all use the wake-up of a cold shower in the form of serious discourse on sin and its grip, not just on individuals but on institutions. A good text for this might be Psalm 106, which includes this sad confession:But they soon forgot [God's] works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them. (Ps. 106:13-15)Wanton craving and wasting disease indeed. A suggested title for the sermon: “Be Careful What You Ask.”