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.

Who's the Pope of Market Religion?

The chair of the Federal Reserve Bank occupies the seat of The Market religion’s high priest or pope. Heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Treasury Department, Goldman Sachs, large financial institutions and too-big-to-fail banks are leading clerics. They interpret to others the mysteries of The Market and its “invisible hand.” They decide on what theology of The Market, Mammon, Growth, and other deities fits the orthodox creed of the present and what does not. They determine what is right and wrong practice for the priesthood, as well as the staff they supervise throughout the economy.

They get a hand from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which oversees the Wall Street traders and fund managers. But given all the speculation and corruption, the oversight has a lot of overlook in it. Nonetheless, just watch what the markets do when Pope Bernanke talks.