Book Tour Diary: Changing the Script with Jon Stewart

I appreciate Jon Stewart for having voices like Rev. Wallis' on The Daily Show. I guess I would find it easier to applaud him more enthusiastically if he would, from his desk on the show, renounce the large billboard on the corner of 52nd St. and 11th Avenue in Manhattan, NYC that pictures him endorsing Larry Flynt's nearby Hustler "gentleman's club" as well. Prophetic voice?

There are some thin if the legitimate work as a line there. Most are sites and marketing study for the site owner rich, not you. The only thing is true legitimacy Ebay, selling things you already own
www.onlineuniversalwork.com

I have been looking for this guy for along time. As a follower of Jesus I was wondering why churches haven't been up in arms for a long time. My church offers the opportunity to feed the homeless once a month but stays clear of politics. How can you fight these battles without confrontation with political realities? I'm fed up & disillusioned with all the money collecting and time spent in the church. When I prayed for insight into health care and found single-payer, I had no choice. I had to get active and frankly I'm wondering how any Jesus people can be against everyone in-nobody out. We have different Gods I guess.

"But then I said that these bonuses in the midst of such suffering in America were more than a scandal and a shame - they are a sin of biblical proportions."

How does Wallis know that his salary is not a "sin of Biblical proportions?" A lot of people in the world might think so.

Churches scholars determined in the 16th century that the only just wages were those determined in a free market. The bonuses of bank employees were determined in a free market. Wallis has no grounds whatsoever for calling them sinful except that he doesn't like them. Does Wallis have the wisdom to determine what every person in the world should make? How much should movie stars and pro athletes make? How about politicians? He clearly thinks he knows how much bankers and CEO's should make, but what about engineers, accountants, mechanics, welders, ditch diggers, etc.? Is Wallis going to grace us some day with his detailed list of what every profession deserves to make? I doubt it, but he should at least provide us a detailed list of exactly how much in bonuses bankers should make, or else he is advertising that he has no idea whether the bonuses are sinful or not. If he knows they are sinful, then he knows how much of a bonus is not sinful.

"Extending a no-document, no-down-payment, adjustable-rate mortgage to a family without steady, reliable income, knowing that the monthly payment will 'balloon' in 2-3 years to something that the family has no chance at all of repaying,"

And how is that immoral? Remember the economic situation at the time. Housing prices were rising. A lot of people bought homes they knew they couldn't afford and resold them a year or two later and made a lot of money off it. That's why they had the balloon attached at the end. Giving people the chance to make that kind of profit is immoral?

But I should have written "show me immorality that could have caused the financial crisis." Wallis claims that immorality at the banks caused the crisis. Some people are always going to be immoral. It's part of human nature. Anyone who thinks that legislation will rid us of all immorality in business is ignorant of the Bible. Where did immorality rise above the normal level that exists at all times in business, or government or society in general?

Besides, keep in mind that there were very few defaults on loans, at least nothing above normal, until housing prices collapsed. Housing prices collapsed before anything else happened. Then most of the defaults were on loans on which the borrower intended to flip the house for a profit. Finally, the banks that went broke and "caused" the crisis, like Lehman, were not mortgage banks. They were investment banks. All they did was package loans and resell them to investors. the Federal Reserve, most mainstream economists, all ratings agencies and the IMF all asserted that those packaged loans reduced the risk to all investors, including the banks. They were all AAA and AA rated, the safest investments outside of government debt.

Wallis is probably just following the lead of the press. Crises like the current one have been happening for over 300 years and every time they happen the press blames greedy, immoral bankers. It's a knee jerk reaction from ignorant journalists. I just expect more from Christian leaders. We should not accuse people of gross immorality unless we have clear evidence of it. There is no evidence that the management of any of the investment banks acted immorally or even imprudently, and the evidence that mortgage lenders were immoral is purely anecdotal. Yes, some were unscrupulous, but not the majority. And the level of immorality among the minority was not worse than normal and certainly not bad enough to cause a financial crisis.

I too was 'amazed' at Wallis' interview - but not for the same reason as everyone else. Did it just come to Wallis' attention that there are independent, locally controlled banks in his community? Was it because B of A's customer service was so good and their fees so low that he had been with them all of these years? Mr. Wallis - you have been preaching economic justice for years now. I assumed that you would start at home in practicing what you preached - why in the world did you have an account at B of A in the first place?

I have done all of my banking at a local bank since I was old enough to have an account. Even if I only had selfish motives I would stay with the bank - their customer service and products are vastly superior to anything that B of A, or any large bank, has ever offered me. In addition, I happen to know that my bank's loan committee is made up of local people, and is much more sensitive to the economic needs of my community than B of A could ever hope to be. I get to have my cake and eat it too! Unfortunately I can't create a cute sound-bite by 'firing' B of A because I never 'hired' them in the first place.

I am an agnostic and I very rarely find anyone in organized religion that I agree with (I mean the people "in charge", there are plenty of great christian individuals that I can agree with and respect tremendously!). I wish we could have more people like him instead of the Falwells (RIP), Robertsons, popes, etc...). Regarding firing the big banks, I did that in '98 or so, when BofA fired a lot of full-time workers and replaced them with part-time workers so they didn't have to pay benefits. If (I do say *IF*) you can afford it, you should also fire Walmart and all other companies that are dragging this country down to the least common denominator.

Is this the same Rachel Maddow that John Stewart mocked for politicizing the earthquake in Haiti?

There are some thin if the legitimate work as a line there. Most are sites and marketing study for the site owner rich, not you. The only thing is true legitimacy Ebay, selling things you already own
www.onlineuniversalwork.com

By the way, I live in Tulsa in the Muscogee/Creek Nation area.

I believe Mr. Wallis was most likely referring to native american spirituality, culture, and tradition before their way of life was obliterated by American expansionism and imperialism. Before that they lived a sustainable, self-sufficient life-style that was respectful to the environment and mindful of keeping things sustainable for later generations. I don't believe he was referring to present day native american culture (not that there's no value there). That's how I took it.

I disagree with your assessment of Maddow as a "bomb thrower" and I note that Jon Stewart's righteous outrage expressed through comedy is no less pointed. Both approaches have their place.

"I enjoyed the back and forth with Jon about values, economics, and the bad morality play of banks, bailouts, and now bonuses."

I challenge anyone to give me an example of any immorality on the part of banks before or during the crisis. Wallis is guilty of bearing false testimony against his neighbors. There is no evidence of impropriety, let alone immorality in the business decisions of the major banks. The banks opposed the bailouts and were forced to take them by the government.

"But then I said that these bonuses in the midst of such suffering in America were more than a scandal and a shame - they are a sin of biblical proportions."

At what level does a bonus become a sin? $10? $100,000? $1 million? Before Wallis can declare that bonuses are a sin, he must be able to draw the line at which a bonus becomes a sin. Surely he doesn't mean all bonuses paid by all companies are sinful.

Thanks. Jim seems to forget that the Treasury Dept forced the banks to take TARP funds whether they needed it or not. All funds handed out to banks under TARP have been paid back with interest. The anger should be at Congress and the president because they are now blaming the banks for GM, Chrysler, and AIG not paying back what they owe and will never be able to pay back.

In contrast I suggested that we need to rediscover some new/old spiritual virtues like: Enough is Enough, We're In This Together, and learn to employ the Native American ethic of considering the consequences of decisions today by their impact on the seventh generation out.

Pray to God that Obama would heed this advice.

I was just amazed when I heard Jim Wallis' interview with Jon Stewart. I also "fired" Bank of America! Starting last October, I transferred all investments out of Merrill Lynch, then opened another checking account, then had to change all my auto-pay bill payments to the new account. This has taken about two months to finalize. Now I have changed my Bank of America Visa card, by opening another Visa, and finally closed all those auto-pays. Today--yes, actually today, I can finally close my old B of A Visa account. This has taken a great deal of time and inconvenience and caused a few point hit on my credit score, but I've done it and I'm glad that I did. Incidentally, I sent a letter telling what I had done and why, to the CEO and sent a copy of it as an open letter to FloridaToday newspaper, who printed it recently. I'm so glad to hear the Jim Wallis did the same thing!

I laud Jon Stewart, as well. I would like to add Rachel Maddow as a top media person who is changing the script!

I have been looking for this guy for along time. As a follower of Jesus I was wondering why churches haven't been up in arms for a long time. My church offers the opportunity to feed the homeless once a month but stays clear of politics. How can you fight these battles without confrontation with political realities? I'm fed up & disillusioned with all the money collecting and time spent in the church. When I prayed for insight into health care and found single-payer, I had no choice. I had to get active and frankly I'm wondering how any Jesus people can be against everyone in-nobody out. We have different Gods I guess.

I am an agnostic and I very rarely find anyone in organized religion that I agree with (I mean the people "in charge", there are plenty of great christian individuals that I can agree with and respect tremendously!). I wish we could have more people like him instead of the Falwells (RIP), Robertsons, popes, etc...). Regarding firing the big banks, I did that in '98 or so, when BofA fired a lot of full-time workers and replaced them with part-time workers so they didn't have to pay benefits. If (I do say *IF*) you can afford it, you should also fire Walmart and all other companies that are dragging this country down to the least common denominator.

Is this the same Rachel Maddow that John Stewart mocked for politicizing the earthquake in Haiti?

By the way, I live in Tulsa in the Muscogee/Creek Nation area.

I believe Mr. Wallis was most likely referring to native american spirituality, culture, and tradition before their way of life was obliterated by American expansionism and imperialism. Before that they lived a sustainable, self-sufficient life-style that was respectful to the environment and mindful of keeping things sustainable for later generations. I don't believe he was referring to present day native american culture (not that there's no value there). That's how I took it.

I found the comments made by Jim during this interview very disturbing and not in agreement with what BofA has recently reported both in the press and to the US Treasury about its efforts to modify loans to its customers.

http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/index.php?s=4...

According to BofA, "Bank of America has become the first mortgage servicer to surpass 200,000 customers entering HAMP trial modifications. The bank started more than 34,000 new trial modifications in December alone."

In addition, over 250,000 customers had their mortgages modified in 2009 both through governmental and other programs.

I am sadly disappointed that these points were not made during the interview and that this type of conversation re-stokes populist anger against banks. I'm not saying BofA or any bank is perfect, but they're far from the evil institutions that they're being described as right now.

Churches risk losing their non-profit status if they engage in politics. That's the law.