The world's financial crisis is the result of greed, and an example of what happens when God, basic rights, and the common good are ignored. - Inspired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State for the Vatican

Agreed. It is not in man to direct his own steps. And when he attempts to do so, he does so in folly. Trusting in God is the only way to always be in the right; even when it is not popular. Don't need to be a religious zealot to know this truth.

Fundamentally true. Values structure behaviours or what actions take place anywhere, anytime. Recent research efforts to understand market behaviour through dynamic modeling is also a means to monitoring actions and creating models for future, standardized transactions, ones which respond to an acceptable set of Wall/Main street values.

related article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/opinion/01buchanan.html?_r=1&em&oref=s...

You know, Cardinal Bertone, by all accounts, is right. But statements like this still do not fail to frustrate me. They seem to be made of sound, fury, and hyperbole. In retrospect, I too can waylay judgment and offer proscriptive soundbites on the moral decrepitude of Wall Street. But the fact of the matter is that it's easy to pile on Wall Street NOW, but where have all the experts been for the past five years -- the past ten?

No one will argue that greed played a role in this crisis, because it certainly did, but this situation was not created solely by speculators or miscreants on Wall Street; this is the result of a deep, multifold, complex problem -- and maybe system. And no one seemed to care until an opportunity for schadenfreude presented itself...

Adam Smith told us once upon a time that the Invisible Hand provides the potential for private vices to become public benefits. Individuals pursuing their own self-interest can sometimes benefit the system and the community at large. Key word: SOMETIMES. In a de-regulated, free market, laissez faire economy, greed plays an important role in the whole thing's function. So it seems, maybe, a bit ridiculous (especially for all of those who subscribe to capitalism -- especially the U.S. brand -- AND benefit from it) to pretend that we don't know that greed plays a role AND has the serious potential to backfire and wreak even more serious havoc on the system at large. Right? Rather than bringing God into a secular system of economics and rather than lament about the distasteful nature of humanity, let's look forward and try to figure out how to regulate our self-interest-driven brand of capitalism so that this never happens again...

Don't agree: God has nothing to do with it. It's a key role of government to act on our proxy as a watchdog over people and organizations who may do the right thing when a moral hazard is presented, but often don't. The SEC was created to do so, and said it was, but then willfully failed, based on an extremely flawed expectation (such as that "God, basic rights, and the common good" would inform the activities of traders creating highly leveraged mortgage-based securities instruments).

In response to Rip, lots of people and institutions, both in the US and around the world, have been predicting either the potential of a big problem because of the new rules that allowed the CDSs and other instruments, or the actual crisis. For one example, simply read this article in today's NY Times about the 2004 SEC rule change - the writing was on the wall then! (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03sec.html?partner=permalink&...)

Rational self-interest is a godly pursuit. What regulatory measures are founded on should find grounding in principles which define rationality and fairness.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The current financial crisis is rooted in the belief that all Americans have the right to homeownership whether they have earned it or not. The best term I can think of to describe the situation is "Univeral Housing". Since liberal policies like this always come back to bite you in the long run, you can bet we will see a similar crisis in 15 years if we enact Universal Health Care. This country is not about fairness. It is about equal opportunity, which by the way does not equate to equal results.

I agree with the sentiment about greed and the common good, but let's leave God out of it.

Bobby - don't agree at all. Lots of home buyers got in over their heads with the complete collusion, let me point out, of both the financial markets *and* the executive branch of the Federal government. But that doesn't cause a crisis like we have. That takes financiers making highly leveraged bets that housing prices continue to go up, without the cash to pay off on those bets if they lose.

Look at it like this. Regular people spent $100 on something they thought would be worth $110 next year. Instead it was worth $80. Too bad for them. Financiers spent $100 to by mortgage-backed securities that would make them $10,000 if the housing market kept growing. But they didn't have the $10,000 to pay back if the housing market tanked.

Before 2004, the SEC required the financiers to have *much* bigger cash reserves. They changed the rules, the housing market *dipped* (didn't crash until later), and the financiers were in trouble and didn't have the reserves to get out of trouble. So we taxpayers are left holding the bag for the rich guys, while the main streeters who are losing their houses are screwed.

Our country was founded on basic Christian fundamentals whether we want to believe it or not. Our entire economy is based upon truth and faith in the person or organization we are doing business with. God's principals have everything to do with it. Try doing business in a market with no belief in the common good. A business transaction must be a win/win situation. The honest pursuit of profit and good and services keeps the economy sound. Selling property, goods or services to a person who can't afford it is not honest and will eventually be one of the downfalls of this country.

YUP

Given that the idea of private enterprise is to grow a business and increase profits, is there not a place for also building for the common good.

Do all companies have some responsibility for not only building their business, but also building their community?

I don't think man-made poor decision making can be blamed on a distance from God. I can see the resulting consequences that poor decisionmaking has on our believes in god, human rights and the common good. But they are not related.

While I agree that the current financial crisis is the result of people seeking short term profits--also known as wanting money for nothing. The adoption of Christian values isn't going to help. I mean let's be serious here, weren't the vast majority of the people to blame for this financial crisis ( whether you blame wall street, main street, the feds or all the above ) part of that 90% Christian majority in this country. Was it not it not their values that got us here. In other word Christian Values are the values that are exhibited by most Christians, no? If that is the case and 90% of our country is Christian then Christian Values are what got us here. Perhaps the good cardinal should start calling for a reform of Christian values.

Capitalism without regulation is capitalism run riot.