Book "God & Man On Wall Street: The Conscience of Capitalism"

The book, God & Man On Wall Street: The Conscience of Capitalism, is a book about business, finance, ethics, and faith. It shows how those seemingly different topics are closely and importantly related. The book is authored by Craig Columbus and Mark W. Hendrickson, Columbus is the President and CEO of First Allied Asset Management, Inc., and previously served as a professor and chair of the Entrepreneurship department at Grove City College. Hendrickson is an adjunct Economics professor at Grove City College and a Fellow for Economic and Social Policy with the Center for Vision and Values.

The two wrote the book in order to address the topic of fixing Wall Street so that something can actually be done to fix it. There are many books that detail the Wall Street financial crisis of 2008, but this is one of the only ones written with an optimistic perspective.

Some authors blame the events that led to the crises on capitalism itself, but Columbus and Hendrickson don’t want to do that.

They recognize that capitalism isn’t perfect but it is the best option out there. The financial crisis was caused by a lack of ethical management by humans. The majority of Americans have lost their trust in Wall Street due to the visible greed of recent history. Top executives in banks have been overpaid and interest rates have been held artificially low among other things. The book is opened with an introduction that states that financial markets run on faith. It requires faith that you are not being lied to, faith that your property rights are secure, and faith that what you are paying for exists and such.

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The authors go on to explain why the financial sector did what it did that led to the Great Recession and ways that similar problems could potentially be avoided in the future.

The authors point out that many people that are part of Wall Street never did anything unethical or illegal. They used Wall Street’s response to the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, as an example of how good and helpful Wall Street can bet The New York Stock Exchange opened only six days after the event and before telecommunications connectivity was reestablished in lower Manhattan, Columbus and Hendrickson detail what went wrong on Wall Street but they don‘t dwell on it. They bring up the hopeful point of how many young entrepreneurs are up and coming in America today They say that over half of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 say that they want to start their own business. The rate is even higher for kids in elementary and high school entrepreneurs naturally want to solve problems in order add value to a good, sen/ice, or process.

These are the people Wall Street needs in order to change the culture that led to the crisis, the leaders of Wall Street during the Great Recession were raised in a period where management led with a “get the job done no matter what you have to do” style. This style of leadership turns a corporation into a machine full of specialized parts When a worker is given a very specific task he or she must do repeatedly and ethical values begin to be removed from the task. The job is a job and that’s what a worker is supposed to do because that’s what the boss says, No questions are asked, This is harmful because it dehumanizes the worker, customer and the community. Overall, it seems that today’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs are a group that is more concerned with solving problems than simply earning enottgh money to live comfortably The authors are hopeful that these entrepreneurs will help fix Wall Street from the inside.

The book does a good job of outlining some of the financial mistakes made in the decade prior to the Great Recession. They talked about potentially fixing some of those issues with added government regulations but having faith and a higher foundation of ethics than the law is what will most help fix Wall Street’s problems The authors point out that so far not so much has changed. Banks are still overpaying their top executives and the Federal Reserve maintains interest rates at low levels, This is a bit disturbing but there still is hope for significant change in the future as millennial entrepreneurs become more involved.  This is a very unique book, it is unlike any other book written about the Great Recession because it is about ethics and faith, I am not aware of any other book about Wall Street and the financial crisis that has “God” in the title.

The majority of the other books based on the same events are quick to blame capitalism and greedy financial professionals for the crisis, when in reality, capitalism is not at fault at all and the majority of financial professionals adhere to just business practices and ethics. The reviews of the book are very positive overall I actually could not find one review on the internet that had anything negative to say about the book or the authors There did not seem to be a large quantity of reviews but the people who have reviewed it have been very pleased with and intrigued by the message. Before reading this book, I had never really thought about fixing Wall Streett I knew big mistakes had happened in the financial industry that led to the Great Recession. I never really paid attention to what those mistakes were or what the consequences might be if the government didn’t bail out the big banks.

I never thought of the government challenging Wall Street to fix their behavior from the inside as JFK challenged the space program to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade in the 19605. The words Columbus and Hendrickson have written are very enlightening. The book is well written and easy to read I learned a lot of details about the Great Recession that I did not know I enjoyed reading the book and agree with nearly everything Columbus and Hendrickson say. They present a topic that is very interesting and important for the average American to have a basic understanding of, Wall Street is extremely interconnected with our daily lives and the goings on there should not be disregarded, I recommend this book to anyone.