Morgan's Mess

By Tom Ehrich

As a customer of JP Morgan Chase – high-stakes gambler now off $2 billion and still drawing cards – I have to wonder what depth of addiction is managing my personal and business finances.

As a resident of New York City, I am appalled at the greed, swagger, entitlement, clubby narcissism and outlandish salaries exemplified by Morgan, which are poisoning this great city and making it unaffordable for people who work for a living.

As a citizen of the United States, I am outraged that this bank took government funds, lobbied against accountability in their use of them, and proceeded not to plow those billions into anything productive, like small-business loans, mortgage settlements and government securities, but bet the farm – my farm – on hedge plays that would benefit only the bank.

As an ethical person trying to live a decent life according to Christian morality, I am saddened that Christian witness will fight to the death over sex but say little to the powerful.

This debacle isn’t just about the nation’s largest bank and poster child for corporate irresponsibility. It feels like an exhausted system collapsing.

Where is the gumption that built great dams and highways and conquered diseases? Where is the public morality that ended slavery, gave women the vote, ignored homegrown ideologues during the Great Depression and defeated fascism overseas, guaranteed civil rights for all, and built a great middle class?

Where is the Church? Pondering a better genital future? If we don’t dare to speak truth to power, no one will.