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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams told BBC Two's Newsnight programme: "There hasn't been a feeling of closure about what happened last year" ... "We haven't heard people saying 'well actually, no, we got it wrong and the whole fundamental principle on which we worked was unreal, was empty'."
What we are looking at is the possibility of a society getting more and more dysfunctional if the levels of inequality that we have seen in the last couple of decades are not challenged. Dr Williams went on to say ... "It's a failure to name what was wrong. To name that, what I called last year 'idolatry', that projecting [of] reality and substance onto things that don't have them."
He also said that the crisis was a lesson that "economics is too important to be left to economists" ... and he went on to suggest there was a role for "awkward amateurs" in examining how the City operates.
Dr Williams also said there was a sense of "bafflement" and "muted anger" at the bonus culture and said "I think that's one of those things that feeds the... diffused resentment, that people are somehow getting away with a culture in which the connection between the worth of what you do and the reward you get becomes more obscure".
He could have gone a lot further, and questioned the value/ethics of building an economy based on 'gambling' (instead of adding real value for communities), and the legitimacy of gambling with other people's money ... allowing a small minority to profit greatly when it goes well, only to be bailed out by the vast majority (taxpayers) every time it goes wrong.
He didn't mention the need to split commercial banking from investment banking, but he did mention the importance of 'wealth creation' (value creation & well-being) compared to 'wealth manipulation', which I have referred to in past blogs ... Leanomics will need to replace Poweromics (in terms of 'economics') very soon if our nations are to have any chance of a survival, 'success' and a 'sustainable future'.
More people need to take responsibility and challenge what is happening (see 'for evil to flourish') and as far as having 'awkward amateurs' examining how the City operates - I couldn't agree more ... in fact Leanomics would naturally create this ...
As time goes on, and things get worse, such messages will get progressively stronger, highlighting the fundamental lack of ethical and moral values prevailing in our 'leadership', as well as the fundamental gap (and flaws) between 'creating value' and 'monetary reward' that current exist ...
