{"id":6186,"date":"2009-11-04T15:31:18","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T20:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglicansamizdat.wordpress.com\/?p=6186"},"modified":"2009-11-04T15:31:18","modified_gmt":"2009-11-04T20:31:18","slug":"bankers-loving-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/bankers-loving-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Bankers loving themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Bloomberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer John Varley stood at the wooden lectern in St. Martin-in-the- Fields on London\u2019s Trafalgar Square last night and told the packed pews of the church that \u201cprofit is not satanic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 53-year-old head of Britain\u2019s second-biggest bank said banks are the \u201cbackbone\u201d of the economy. Rewarding high- performing bankers with more pay doesn\u2019t conflict with Christian values, he said. Varley was paid 1.08 million pounds ($1.77 million) and no bonus in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalent is highly mobile,\u201d Varley, a Catholic, said. \u201cIf we fail to pay or are constrained from paying competitive rates then that talent will move to another employer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Christianity and banking compatible? Yes,\u201d he said in an interview after the speech in the 283-year-old church. \u201cAnd is Christianity and fair reward compatible? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Varley joins Goldman Sachs International adviser Brian Griffiths and Lazard International Chairman Ken Costa as London bankers who\u2019ve gone into London churches in recent weeks and invoked Christianity to defend a banking system that critics say has created wealth and inequality in the U.K.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest,\u201d Goldman\u2019s Griffiths said Oct. 20, his voice echoing around the gold-mosaic walls of St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral, whose 365-feet-high dome towers over the City, London\u2019s financial district. \u201cWe have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

While I agree with this maybe-I-have-an-axe-to-grind banker that making a profit is not Satanic, it isn\u2019t particularly virtuous either. I have nothing against capitalism, but once it loses its ethical footing \u2013 and just like most other things in the West, I think it has \u2013 its power is just like any other power: subject to corruption.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

This piece of pop-psychology enlightenment alone is an ample demonstration of why bankers should stick to banking and leave the pulpit to priests (who, admittedly, tend to use the pulpit to decry the evils of banking):<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When Jesus told us to love others as we love our selves, it was hardly an endorsement of self-interest or loving ourselves; it was simply recognition of the fact that we do <\/em>love ourselves. Even people who are miserable and consumed with apparent self-loathing are only in that state because they feel hard-done-by and wish for better things \u2013 because they love themselves. A person does not become suicidal through a lack of self-love, but by an over-indulgence in it; he loves himself enough to do anything<\/em> to escape from his misery.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that John Varley takes some other sayings of Jesus to heart, too. Like:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

\u201cFor whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Bloomberg: Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer John Varley stood at the wooden lectern in St. Martin-in-the- Fields on London\u2019s Trafalgar Square last night and told the packed pews of the church that \u201cprofit is not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[2080],"class_list":["post-6186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","tag-christianity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}