Customer Reviews

Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World

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For readers interested in how religion informs views of capitalism, this is an excellent example.

No matter what you think of Green's argument, it's a beautifully written and lucid book that ranges widely in history and literature. It's a book not just about financial policy but about living a meaningful, examined life.

As a writer, Green has an eye for the telling factual detail. To cite just one example, on globalization: "I have listened to the work of and Italian composer (Puccini) in a Chinese opera house (in Beijing) designed by a Frenchman (Paul Andreu)."

At its core, though, this is a book about what Green sees as the limits of capitalism and how he hopes to transform it.

Early on, Green quotes Milton Friedman's view that "There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."

Green calls that view "dangerously simplistic," and says businesses now "must consider value from the perspective not just of investors, but of customers, employees, suppliers, communities and - increasingly - the environment, too."

Green's own feelings about free-market capitalism are mixed: "At its best, as we have seen, there is no more powerful engine for development and liberation than the market. At its worst, it is a dangerous moral pollutant that nourishes some very poisonous weeds in us."

At time, Green is downright hostile. He quotes Paul: "The love of money is the root of all evil." Money, he writes, has become "the modern Mephistopheles," the servant of Lucifer, the Devil.

What is the alternative? "After 2007-2009, the manifest failure of market fundamentalism and the need for a rebalancing of the world's economy will inevitably be the starting point of a new world order," Green writes. "The underlying question will be whether world leaders can construct a shared vision of a global economic order that preserves the dynamism of market forces while taming their excesses (in both risk-taking and reward)."

Green expresses hope that what he calls "ethical capitalism" will supplant what he calls "the ideology of market fundamentalism."

This "ethical capitalism" has an ideology of its own, which, while its truth may be self-evident to Green, is by no means universally shared.

"My interpretive prism is Christian," Green writes toward the end of the book, again quoting Paul: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

"The ideal, and the hope, stand the test of time," writes Green. This may well grate on Jewish readers who don't look forward as ardently as Green apparently does to the elimination of their unique identity. They and others may, as I did, find this particular critic of "market fundamentalism" to display a certain fundamentalism of his own, and one that isn't without its own dangers.

Bankers are in the doghouse seen as the main culprits of the recession. It is therefore an important event that a highly successful prominent banker presents his convictions about moral standards. The book leaves you in no doubt that Stephen Green (SG) is a banker with good intentions, writes what he honestly believes, and wishes banks to contribute to the well-being of society at large and most importantly tells what should change and what cannot.

SG makes several "final" statements about the economic system that he believes to be true, which coming from a person with so much credibility should be accepted by all.
For example: "The Friedmanite (Milton Friedman) idea that the sole job of a business is to create profit for shareholders has proved insufficient to sustain value and-in the end- a bad deal for shareholders". Richard Lambert, the Director General of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) still wrote in 2010 in the FT: "Business in some ways quite simple. It has clearly defined aims. The aim is to make money." And Lambert is far from the only one still holding this view.
Other example: "Government oversight, regulation and, in time of stress, intervention are essential". "Markets cannot be relied on to be stable and self-regulating". Good-bye to laissez faire and egocentric country sovereignty.
Other example: "Nor can the market be relied upon to be sufficient for a balanced social development (that is solve poverty problems)"
However, make no mistake SG consider the free market the prime force for the development of prosperity; he makes many suggestions how to channel it for the benefit of society at large.

SG refers to an important statement of Nigel Lawson, a brilliant former British chancellor: "That capitalism has shown, in practice, to be endemically (infected by disease) flawed should not come as a surprise". "That is the nature of mankind." What is the disease? One of the many diseases SG identifies is "that there are too many engineers working in bank dealing rooms" I suppose SG refers to the brilliant brains developing innovative structured products and logarithms. These engineers have only one motivation: to become stinkingly rich regardless of the consequences. If large businesses like Wal-Mart or GE go bankrupt it is a tragedy but if a boiler room is outstandingly successful, or if a large bank like Lehman fails, it can spread like a deadly fever through the entire body of the interconnected financial system. SG writes, "Exactly how the taming will be done remains to be seen." The book does not present all of the changes necessary but a good many.

Stephen Green presents his recommendations from a Christian perspective. In many dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama I have identified Buddhist principles with the same purpose, published in the "Leader's Way". They are surprisingly similar.

SB. "The value of the human spirit with all its possibilities for goodness and creativity, is so intensely real, seen to the Christian prism, so also is the potential of evil and destructiveness."
B (Buddhism) "It is part of human nature to have Good (beneficial} tendencies and Negative (destructive) tendencies"." Given the strength of the destructive tendencies it is necessary to train and disciple the mind to reduce negative tendencies".

SB. Compartmentalization. "Disconnect between what is said in worship and what is done in life" B. "All actions should have good intentions. A good intention means that the action is of benefit to self and others, at least does not harm anybody. An intention that does not lead to action has no merit."

SB. "Money is potentially liberating. His money became his God. Money can never be a true servant." B. "The craving for more money, or more fame can never be satisfied."

SB on Calvin: "That if you have money you were a steward of God and must use what you have been entrusted with". B. "Wealth is good if it has been earned honestly and is used responsibly including sharing some of the benefits with others."

SB. "We forget about end values all the time". B. "It is necessary to develop mindfulness to be aware when negative emotions enter the mind. "

SB. "No man is an Island." B. "There has never been and will never be a person that is independent of others.

SB. "Ethical capitalism". Our book. The Responsible Free Market Economy. "Responsible" and "free" are the core words.

The book in addition to the points referred to here presents an excellent history of morals and money starting at the beginning of civilization.

Depending on your perspective, HSBC Chairman Stephen Green's analysis of the global economy and the moral ambiguities that will inevitably shape society's evolution is either brilliant or convoluted. It may be both. Readers will applaud Green's intellect as he draws from fertile philosophical, literary and religious sources to frame his take on civilization's economic beginnings and development. The one drawback is that his obsession with detail and stylistic prose can sometimes obscure his fundamental points. Green ponders where society is headed in this age of globalization and economic uncertainty, and how people will adapt without compromising their humanity. getAbstract finds that his hopeful prescription positions him more as a philosopher than as a major banking executive, though he willingly shoulders both roles.

Although I have not yet received the shipment, I have read the book and further purchases are for friends. This is one of the most enlightening books of the year. The author, Stephen Green, is extremely well read and knowledgeable concerning markets and the ongoing globization of our world. He mixes history, current market dynamics and a heavy dose of ethics in this really well written book. Every professional in the field of of marketing, financing and world history needs to read and study this book.

The quote above was written by an apparent mentor of the author from HSBC. Ahhh... we knew major bank leaders with a conscience had to be out out there somewhere, thanks for finally making yourself visible. With men (and no doubt, women too) of this caliber in high finance and commerce today, maybe the moral philosopher Adam Smith's system of free markets and human joy is not in such bad shape after all.

The special touch of highlighting Goethe's Faust as a blueprint for the modern-day businessperson is prophetic. It's just a matter of time until the new social order of Faustomics, based on total character transparency through the aid of as Jung described it, shadow retrieval, spreads as the elemental cure to all our self-created problems -- abandoned children, war, poverty, divorce and financial scandals included.

Job well done, Mr Green. Your book should be required reading for "capitalists" and "spiritualists" alike around the globe. I for one am going to share it with many of both.

Brendan Connelly
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