mhoust:"I've been working for over 30 years and have slowly and steadily increased my level of income. My current job pays about 20% higher than the median salary for my area. But this guy makes way more in a year than I can in ten, and realistically, doesn't produce anything more of value than I do."

Very, very slippery slope.... You are aware aren't you that you make more money than half the world's poulation? You greedily sit fat and happy in your house, with your fancy electricity, clean running water, indoor plumbing, selfishly hoarding food away in your 'refrigerated' luxury appliance.. why I bet you even have a TV set, and a car. . . see the slippery slope ? You are someone else's Jake DeSantis.

DONS92: "AIG is just the most recent poster boy for a corrupt culture of unregulated capitalism that rewards a privileged few at the expense of the common good"

Unregulated capitalism? Seriously? Can you show me an example of unregulated capitalism? Capitalism in this country is HIGHLY regulated, from fixed price points on milk, to banking regulations, to mortgage and title regulations, to tax laws and licensing requirements, anti trust laws, zoning laws, etc. etc, etc.

Your statement makes you a shrill alarmist, worthy of being ignored.
After all it is capitalism that fills your churches' coffers, pays you salary and the salaries of your congregation.
Certainly there are some agregious and vile behaviors amongst some capitalists, but we can't simply dismiss the greater good works done by the church's, er I mean the business's rank and file because of the actions of a few sick priests, er, I mean uber-greedy capitalists....

If not for 'free market' capitalism, you would have many, many more poor to tend to.

"a privileged few at the expense of the common good."

Am I among the privileged few sir? I work for a large company, they pay me a pretty decent, but not extrordinary wage. I donate time and money to charities and social causes. I am what is known as 'an average guy' not priveleged, not wealthy, not greedy... just an average working guy working for a stable, responsible and regulated corporation.... what 'common good' is suffering because of me or my company?

Where billions of dollars of other peoples money is controlled by others, we have always found massive mismanagement blurring into active fraud and corruption, but neverbefore like we see now. Get ready for more of the same as dump truck loads of governmental, deficit debt financing seeks to keep America's titanic debt machine from sinking below the waterline down to Davey Jone's locker. We can look back to the quiet, signing of the credit default swaps bill by a lame duck president which opened the casinos within our major financial institutions-to the hideous leveraging up of Freddie and Fannie paper with the encouragement of pols and to the delight of the Wall Street CMO ponzi securitizers. Never before has there been such a massive failure of leadership in America. However now is the time to pray for our Country and its new leaders, but especially for God's mercy and the repentence of an America which gorged itself on undigestible credit to the point of financial death. For we few who have liquid, unmortgaged assets left, its time to hit the food banks with assistance and to extend help those on the street (here in Ga. tent cities are cropping up), but hold something in reserve for your children and grandchildren: they will sorely need it along with an radically new faith in God's mercy and provision. Thanks for the article.

I think Ms. Butler should run for office!

The population of wild pigs has doubled since the 90's. Nobody knows why. Pigs are cute and tasty in captivity, but in the wild they are very destructive.

Doing the right thing always leads to prosperity.

I read in the New York Times today a resignation letter from Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

Supposedly Mr. DeSantis had no involvement with the parts of the company that caused the actual melt down. Mr. DeSantis is a $1 a year salary man, but the majority of his compensation consists of an end of year "bonus" based on performance. since his annual compensation was part of the "bonus" package that people are screaming about, he feels that his job isn't worth the hassle anymore and he is donating the entirety of his compensation "bonus" to charity. He mentions that most of the people that cause the financial disaster have already bailed from A.I.G. leaving mostly only the good reliable folks there.

Now I was feeling pretty sad and mean-spirited about about this whole deal until he said that he and his family could weather this financial storm just nicely, even with the losses he's sustained, off of his previous earnings and savings. I really puzzled over that statement until I got to the part of his making $742,006.40 after taxes.

I've been working for over 30 years and have slowly and steadily increased my level of income. My current job pays about 20% higher than the median salary for my area. But this guy makes way more in a year than I can in ten, and realistically, doesn't produce anything more of value than I do.

Good bye Mr. DeSantis, et. al. You made it from less than humble beginnings, but you're not the one back on the streets without a home. You're not the one being forced to eat in a soup kitchen with your children.

You'll get no sympathy from me.

Bobmoses said:

"It is really sad that OnFaith is by far the most partisan liberal section on this site.

Does every single contributor have to be a flaming liberal?"

I don't know what forum you've been reading, because it clearly isn't this one. Sure once in a while one of these shows up, but mostly it's right-wing ranting and catholic apologia.

I am a little concerned that Ms. Butler seems to ask for a straight handout to the out-of-work and leaves it at that. Yeah, times are tough, but shouldn't we be taking this opportunity to boost adult education options so we don't have so many unemployable people without education or job skills floating around the workforce? Obviously, there is a need to provide emergency nutritional aid on a short term basis to prevent starvation and malnourishment, but that hardly serves society on a longer term basis. If we don't want an unending series of handouts to the same people, it makes sense to invest a little more money now (especially given that the government seems to be looking for ways to spend money to boost the economy) to save a lot more later.

Thank you, this needed to be said!

I am sad to see the old "welfare queen Cadillac" canard recycled in comments to this post. Maybe these people genuinely do not know that we have rising hunger, especially in the young, in this country.

Perhaps they don't know that, as you point out, all that burgeoning wealth of the recent past went to only a small sliver of our society, and that more than 90% of this country lost ground?

But even if these commenters are completely oblivious to the deprivations of their fellow Americans, it is disturbing to read comments that suggest that their authors cannot be bothered to consider themselves members of a society, with obligations to that society.

I've been to those countries, too, FH. And I note that the larger the gap between the rich and poor, the more unstable the society. Even if you don't care about others in this country, perhaps you might be concerned about the possibility of violence, corruption, or social unrest?

In other words, if people don't want to do what is morally right, the sort of thing that expresses the values I was taught this country espouses, perhaps they might be willing to take some tiny steps to forestall the further erosion of the American identity and more dangerous times?

"Our economy is in shambles"

It really isn't. The financial sector isn't doing too well, but if our dopey government officials would let it be, it would correct itself in about 12-18 months.

Meanwhile, when I'm on the train, it's jammed with people traveling. When I go to the lumber yard to get tiles, stuff is backordered because it's so popular.

Getting back to AIG. Let me ask you a question. If I hire you and agree to pay you $100 to work the day, and I don't because "my wife found out that I was paying you that much and she said it was an outrage", so I only paid you $99? Would that be fair? No. It wouldn't. We had an agreement.

And if you break that agreement, you are going against God's will. You'll find that everywhere in the Bible. In Numbers 30:2, you'll see that God says that when you make a promise, it must be kept. When AIG and the government made a promise to pay these guys, and then went back on it, they were breaking *GODS* laws and mans.

Does your idea of justice include breaking your word because it's politically expedient to do so? God hates you for that.

It is really sad that OnFaith is by far the most partisan liberal section on this site.

Does every single contributor have to be a flaming liberal?

"Despite decades of economic expansion and increased worker productivity, the poor, the working class and the middle class have seen little to no improvement of their economic lot, while the income and wealth of the top one percent have increased dramatically."

How many flat-screen tv's does the average american home have I wonder??? How many homes have video game systems worth 2 grand by the time you through in all the games? Most people in the U.S. don't even know what poor is.

I've been to countries where there are miles of tin can homes along the highway. I mean 5 sheets of metal, no electricity, no running water. It's ,frankly, insulting for someone to bash the unbelievable wealth that this country has, and brand it "economic failure".

No system is perfect, but the notion that the "market economy" as described by you in terms of Gordon Gecko is a failure is beyond belief. So unbelievably dense as to make me wonder what fairy world you subscribe to?

I agree with everything that Ms. Butler says, except for her gratuitous slap at 'supply-side economics' which is an economic theory about taxation and revenue, and not any justification for greedy piggish bonuses paid for with our taxes.

This is a much-needed reminder that our fiscal priorities are a reflection of our moral priorities. If we remember that focus, our next moral exercise, the budgeting process, will be sure to prioritize support for the victims of those who recklessly gamed the system for short-term gain. Many Christian Americans are observing the season of Lent, a season of repentance, at this time. Here's hoping that the new budget will reflect a repentance of flawed policies of the past and a new day of a government that uses its resources for the common good with an eye toward those who have been left most vulnerable among us by the greed of a few.

Dr. Robert P. Jones
President, Public Religion Research
Author, Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life (www.progressiveandreligious.org)

Sin may be an antiquated concept in our post-modern world, but it's hard not to recognize the social sin of greed as endemic to the latest round of corporate malfeasance.

AIG is just the most recent poster boy for a corrupt culture of unregulated capitalism that rewards a privileged few at the expense of the common good. Faith in Public Life is right to speak about the economy as a profound issue of moral values. We need more prophetic voices that speak with courage and clarity about this. Indeed, our nation's diverse faith traditions offer a compelling critique of the anti-government ideology and "free market" fundamentalism that sowed the seeds for many of our current fiscal woes. Catholics, evangelicals and other religious Americans will be front and center making the case that the true moral measure of a just society is how we treat the poor and most vulnerable.

John Gehring
Senior Writer
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good