Goldman Sachs Doing God's Work?

Remember the bold theological claim of Goldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, that Goldman Sachs was doing God’s work? That’s what he told an interviewer in November 2009, just over a year after the 2008 financial meltdown. (John Arlidge, “I’m Doing ‘God’s Work’. Meet Mr. Goldman-Sachs,” The Sunday Times, November 8, 2009)

His assertion of divine approval for economic policies was quickly countered by one of his critics, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who said, “It’s probably best to leave the gods out of discussions of economic policy.”

But for me the gods are always in economics. So I do not quarrel with the Goldman Sachs CEO for connecting deity and economics. But I do quarrel with his undiscerning, self-justifying theology. Far from doing the work of Creation’s God, Goldman Sachs is a global leader in implementing the mammonistic theology of the MultiEarth worldview. At the moment, no entity can hold them accountable.

The only way Goldman Sachs can be thought to doing God’s work is if we measure their work by the theology of the MultiEarth economic religion. That theology is fair game for every Goldman Sachs critic who understands economic religion. Blankfein shows that he cannot distinguish between the spiritual path of Mammon and that of the God of all Creation. This dangerous level of unconsciousness at Goldman Sachs and elsewhere deserves our criticism, whether we deliver it in satire or in exposure of the utterly damaging impacts such ignorance of paradigms has. For when MultiEarth economic religion reigns, the wellbeing of Earth and most of her inhabitants, expecpt for Blankfein and his peers, are the worse for it. 

The Ugliness of Economic Fundamentalism

Last week Juanita and I saw the musical “Billy Elliot” on the stage of the Civic Center Auditorium here in San Diego. Great evening! Cashing in a Christmas gift from kids! They know we like musicals, so they got us tickets last December.

What I didn’t know was the political context for the story: Margaret Thatcher’s closing down of England’s coal mines to destroy the unions. No caution is spared toward Thatcher in the musical. She’s thoroughly lambasted, including a sarcastic song wishing her Merry Christmas. (All music composed by Elton John.) Experiencing the musical against that backdrop was all the more relevant given Maggie Thatcher’s death April 8, 2013. At the time of her death, I was not surprised that many praised her; but I was surprised that courtesies in the hour of death were cast aside by her critics who lambasted her.

I’m in agreement with her critics. Thatcher was a fundamentalist—an economic fundamentalist who believed there was no other way to economic salvation for countries than to privatize as much as possible, deregulate the financial sector, end labor unions and worker rights to organize, and to separate social obligations from business. She was a disciple of Frederick Hayek’s neoliberal economics (Britain’s Milton Friedman) as were those who surrounded Ronald Reagan in the U.S.

At the moment, the MultiEarth economic religion continues to be Thatcher-like. It is controlled by the global corporations and financial institutions. Its theological spectrum is narrowly fundamentalist. Ask the question, “Is there another way of salvation for Earth and her inhabitants other than the religion of The Market?”

Margaret Thatcher and the fundamentalists in charge of today’s austerity programs and global economy are firm: “No, there is no other way than the current global economy.” They insist that alternative religious paths are deceivers and not to be trusted. And so we see what happens as fundamentalist austerity is imposed in selected countries around the world.

Fundamentalism distorts whatever belief system it invades, be it a church or a government, a theology or an economy. The distortion ruthlessly puts some on the outside while others are privileged to be on the inside. That so many persons with economic power currently ascribe to it bodes ill for billions of poor people, other species, and also big numbers of us who thought it important to be in, or close to, the “middle class.”

There are, of course, many other economic voices that express flexibility in how The Market behaves. They see The Market tolerating variation and alternatives as long as The Market and its pantheon remain supreme. They, however, are not currently in charge.

The Temples of Economic Religion

Insurance company towers, bank buildings pointing skyward, and corporate headquarters are inhabited by the priests and staff of economic religion. Among the most hallowed shrines are Wall Street, the Federal Reserve Bank, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Close behind are other stock exchanges and the financial and corporate institutions which have achieved the status of too-big-to-fail — a status of accumulated wealth, power, and control that assures their salvation by government no matter their mistakes.

The Market lavishes grace on these large institutions in that they are rarely held to full accountability for their failures. Their functions are holy to The Market — so sacred in the marketplace that governments step up to insure their continuing security. They have achieved eternal life.

The priesthood and staff of treasury departments and governments, joined by the teaching ministry of corporate media, explain to citizens that redistributing some of their financial assets to these sacred economic players is a reasonable sacrifice they need to make to the gods of the economy. Legislators, functioning as adjunct staff of economic religion, get in step with the financial priesthood and offer a concurring vote. Citizens are assured that The Market will bless them for their support.

Our dissent, on the other hand, encounters the wrath of The Market. It is a serious transgression for anyone, from citizen worshipers to occupants of the shrines, to block the holy path of increasing wealth as measured by stock exchanges, Gross Domestic Product, and the global economy. You can’t expect The Market to reward a dissenter. The way of the transgressor is hard.

How MultiEarth Religion Distorts Nature's True Purpose

In the MultiEarth worldview, the evolutionary processes of creation reached their climax with the advent of the human being. We humans are the apex, and all of creation is there to serve us. Whatever parts of creation do not serve The Market and its corporations have little value. “Usefulness” is the operative word when deciding the value of nature. No matter how beautiful a natural setting may be, unless it can be developed, mined, or somehow improved for human use, it has no value. Rock formations are just rocks unless they contain seams of coal or hold uranium, copper, oil, natural gas, or gold.

The wildness of nature is a foe of civilization and Progress unless it can be tamed for use by humans. Conservation of nature and species is handled through parks, preserves, and other protected areas so that the rest is freed for development and use by the agencies of The Market.

In MultiEarth economic religion, the most important legacy of human civilization belongs to Progress, improving what nature has given us. The Market makes Earth’s evolutionary creation story secondary and subservient to the ascent of humans and the advance of human history. The creation story functions as a backdrop to the civilization story which is front and center. Creation is not regarded as the significant story shaping the present and future; it is not the primary story that reshapes, limits, and finally decides what civilization can do. Instead, we humans became the premiere creators as we allied with the powers of The Market.

What other distortions are you aware of?