Marx versus Mammon
Updated on 25 September 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for greater regulation of the city; hedge fund chair Ian Morley and Canon David Meera debate the issue in the studio.
Bank robbers and asset strippers: talk about casting out the moneylenders from the temple - the two most senior figures in the Church of England have condemned traders who play the markets to make massive profits.
The Archbishops of York and Canterbury called for greater regulation of City practices. But should religious leaders pass moral judgement on the stock market?
And what about the Church's own, considerable, financial investments?
Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, used a speech to bankers last night to condemn the traders who cashed in on falling share prices as "bank robbers" and "asset strippers".
Dr Rowan Williams, meanwhile, has launched a more closely-argued critique of the moral issues involved in an article in today's "Spectator" magazine.
We're joined from Central London by Ian Morley, chairman of the hedge fund company Corazon Capital, and in the studio by Canon David Meera, the rector of St Brides in the City of London:
What they said
Does unbridled capitalism create mythological financial products that bear no relation to anything real.
Morley: "I think some of the language he used, particularly for a religious leader, were somewhat intemperate and unfortunate because it's castigation of a group of people... there's a lot of prejudice being presented as fact and unfortunately he's been caught up in that."
Meera: "I think the church should be very cautious when it speaks on complex financial matters. And I do think we have to be careful not to say yes wealth creation is excellent when things are going well and financial markets are on the up and then when things start to go down suddenly to say oh dear those naughty capitalists are ripping off.
"I think the underlying point needs to be made and that is good old fashioned values, like thrift, have been lost sight of over the last 30 or 40 years and it's been jam today and never mind quite how we pay for things tomorrow. I think that's a wake up call we should heed.
Do old fashioned values exist in modern financial markets?
Morley: "They do, the reason Lloyds TSB was in a position to buy a company like HBOS was because to a certain extent they do run on old fashioned values. And I think there probably is a role for theologians to talk about moral hazard.
"Moral hazard has been the main cause of this problem. This is when you have an asymmetry between risk and reward. This was primarily the problem of the banks - nothing to do with hedge funds or short sellers - whereby bank executives got ridiculously rewarded for gains but as you can see with their losses, those get socialised."
"There we could have interesting input from theologians. It's got to be based on knowledge. These are complex matters. Some of the things he's said have really been reproducing these shrill headlines that are factually incorrect."
Everyone's talking about regulation. Any specifics
Meera: "I think we've got to be careful, we've got to remember that the availability of cheap credit - Okay, a lot of it was wrong, people were oversold things - but on the other hand a lot of people it's meant a lot of young couples, young people have been able to get on in the housing market, who otherwise wouldn't be able to do so."
Watch the debate for more.
