Recently it was reported that JPMorgan-Chase lost $US 2 billion in its bond trading. We hear that number and think, "That's a lot of money to lose." But how big is it really? We hear these numbers all the time: a million, a billion, a trillion and frankly they are too large to really wrap our heads around. So it may help if we have some reference points.
If we calculate each of these numbers in seconds we might get a better idea of how big is big. So a million seconds is 12 days; a billion seconds is 32yrs; and a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. None of us has a trillion seconds to waste. Another way to look at it is if we calculate how much time it would take to reach one million, one billion and one trillion dollars if we were making $50,000 a year. At the rate of $50,000 it would take 20years to earn a million dollars, it would take 20,000 years to make a billion and it would take a measly 20million years to make a trillion dollars.
So having a context for these numbers helps put things in perspective. So when we see the GSA partying to the tune of millions of dollars, petty cash, and when we learn that Medicare/Medicaid fraud is over $60 billion, now we're talking and to consider that the national debt is in the trillions, well that makes Donald Trump look poor.
This recklessness that seems more and more to permeate our financial markets and government waste doesn't happen because markets or governments are inherently bad but because of human failure, greed and a self-centered pursuit of wealth.
Let's consider what Pope Benedict has said in regards to the economy in his encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate:
6. The Church has always held that economic action is not to be regarded as something opposed to society. In and of itself, the market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak. Society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations. Admittedly, the market can be a negative force, not because it is so by nature, but because a certain ideology can make it so. It must be remembered that the market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man's darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.
What the Holy Father is telling us is that a failure like the loss of $2 billion is caused by human beings forsaking their moral responsibility. Can you see why the Church and the Christian have been placed in the world to remind it of its need to not put profit ahead of people, that economic systems should help expand human freedom and not enslave them with debt, that economic dysfunctions not only cost financially but have a very real human cost?
Our financial systems seem more and more to be marked by corruption, exploitation and illegality. Either the market is pure selfishness or a sharing and offering of goods that improve the lives of people. Capitalism demands truth telling: economic cultures severed from moral and religious truths cannot sustain the ideals and values critical to healthy free-market economies. "Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility," writes Benedict XVI. And this best describes what has happened in the current financial crisis.
The frustrating truth is that a mere handful of people control the entire financial system that in turn sets the tone for the economy. They of course have been aided by our federal leaders who have become partners in crime, guaranteeing a bailout with our money since they are considered sacred cows "too big to fail". The end result is that you and I pay the price for their flights into financial fantasy.
The task at hand is to call the markets and bankers to greater accountability and a return to ethical and moral principles in their use of financial instruments. Every time we try to serve two masters: God and mammon, mammon always wins. As Christians we have too often ignored Jesus warning about the dangers of wealth and power. It is time for us to take this seriously. By doing so we can show by word and deed that our true treasure is not how much we get but how much we give.
Love,
Fr. John Bonavitacola
