Wall Street Tycoons & Sunday School

It was Rudyard Kipling who wrote, "What a web we weave when we first practice to deceive".

And so the story goes...the 2008 Tronch I, Bailout Nation, Stimulus Plan I, 2009 Tronch II, Stimulus Plan II, New Deal III, etc...are but symptoms of a serial pandemic spreading through Wall Street.

Politicians are scrambling to solve problems of transparency and integrity disguised as economic problems. Consider stalwart Wall Street firms Lehman and Bear Stearns. They promised nothing was wrong. Both ended bankrupt and were bought for pennies on the dollar. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae promised that they had no financial woes. The government rescued both. AIG appeared strong and untouchable. The government bought them out for 85 bilion dollars. Thane's Merrill Lynch promised only one trip to the discount window for money and that Merrill was through its most difficult economic patch. Merrill then begged to be bought out; Bank of America came to the rescue with the Treasury Secretary's explicit promise to back all of the toxic assets no matter how many there were. Pandit promised Citigroup was getting through the worst of its problems. Tronch I and Treasury rescue packages have left the stock bleeding under five dollars and the company fighting for its survival.

Now Apple Computer, under the cloud of suspicion concerning Steve Jobs' health, promised Jobs was in fine health. Then Apple confirms suspicions that Jobs was taking a leave of absence for six months for health reasons.

Who can blame investors from fleeing the scene and producing a 40% drop in equity prices during 2008 matching the worst year since 1931? With financial statements useless, CEO's and government officials playing the charlatans, and the prospects of success in the markets being turned into a gambling parlor, Americans are left holding the financial losses to the tune of billions of dollars.

What excactly is the problem? Its not losses, bankruptcies, or over-leveraged financial institutions. The problem is integrity and character. The day that a man's word is not as "good as gold", has arrived.

Cheating, lying, deceiving, and half-truths are ground-zero for America's 2008 Wall Street financial implosion and economic recession that is underway. When truth is discarded, the financial statements become useless. When truth is hidden, banks won't lend and people won't borrow. No one can conduct business fairly.

What is the solution? Bust the entire bunch of financial charlatans that cooked the books and lied in public about the material affairs of their public companies. Jail time, accountability, and swift accountability are partial solutions addressing those swindlers who have destroyed the 401K's, pension plans, and retirements of millions of Americans. Enron and Worldcom were not the only bad apples in the barrel. The entire Wall Street and financial system has men who continue to peddle half-baked truths about their companies.

The solution, however, is not only to swiftly house white collar crooks in pin-stripe suits. Americans must re-learn the timeless truths and great lessons of honesty, integrity, and character in their personal lives.

Bruner and Carr who wrote of J.P. Morgan's steely nerves in saving America's banking system during the Panic of 1907, record Mr. Morgan's famous verbal exchange during a Congressional inquiry:

Untermyer: Is not commercial credit based primarily upon money or property?
Morgan: No, sir. The first thing is character.
Untermyer: Before money or property?
Morgan: Before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it ... a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom.

J.P. Morgan, the great banker, knew that without good character there could be no good commerce. Sunday School may seem a bit archaic and aloof a solution for our sophisticated modern day financiers. But the difference between a street thief and a pin-stripe suit college graduate swindler is the amount of money that is stolen. Both are thieves. Both have the effect of destroying the America we love.

Harvard and Yale graduates may have a ticket to success. But success crumbles easily when character is not built upon the timeless of values of Sunday sermons where conscience, love, hope, and faith train us toward honesty and integrity. Today's financial leaders need no more motivation or incentives to succeed. They already make millions.

They need Sunday School and a re-learning of the 10 Commandments that makes one right with his soul before handling the public's trust and their money.