City traders produce nothing, make "obscenely high" amounts of money and give little back in return, a senior bishop has claimed.The ringing declaration comes from the Rt Rev John Saxbee, Bishop of Lincoln, who also lashes at the "greed is good" creed and suggests that the recession is the price we are paying "for the failure of free-market economics".
Bishop Saxbee's forthright comments appear in the Lent issue of Crosslincs, the magazine of the Lincoln diocese, in which he urges: "We must learn to live within our means".
The 62-year-old church leader's robust remarks about City traders appear as controversy rages over the "obscene" £693,000 annual pension being paid to Sir Fred Goodwin, the banker who presided over the Royal Bank of Scotland, which last week posted a record annual loss of £24.1bn.
In an article headed: "A morality tale for our times" - written before the furore over what is seen as Sir Fred's arrogance and greed - Bishop Saxbee says: "The banking system has moved from savers depositing money to be lent to borrowers who demonstrate ability to pay, to a system whereby money itself is traded as a commodity.
"Although they talk about financial 'products', in fact nothing is actually produced by City traders, who make obscenely high sums of money and give little back in return."
The bishop says "Greed is good" was one of the "mantras chanted by the high priests of global capitalism". He declares: "No it isn't. It is sub-human and ultimately self-defeating because the only society worth living in is a society which treats money as our servant rather than our master, and sees our neighbour in need as a fellow human being to be cared for, rather than a nuisance to be avoided at all costs."
Bishop Saxbee says: "The present recession is the price we are paying for the failure of free-market economics.
"Behind every economic statistic there is a human face, and it is that human face which must become our primary concern as we learn the lessons of these last few months."
He goes on: "Not everything that counts can be counted; not everything that matters can be measured; not everything that is valuable can be valued at a price.
"We may have to learn that less is more. We may be paid less and earn less interest on our investments. But in return we have greater job security, our pension is secure and we live in a more just society.
"We may have to learn again that it is better to give than to receive and that graciousness is better than greed when it comes to creating the Good Society. "We may have to learn to live more simply - and to live within our means - so that others may have the means simply to live."
Bishop Saxbee adds: "These are the messages which emerge loud and clear from the failures of recent times. And once we embrace these messages and make them our own, then the values in forming our common life both locally and globally can be the values which promote justice and generosity...the values of the Kingdom of God for which the churches have always stood."
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(Source: RI)