Securities Regulation is Part of Larger Societal Matrix

Let us for this one day, December 25, reflect on the larger issues of social responsibility and social justice rooted in the age-old belief that we all have value. And securities regulation, like the financial system itself, is part of the broader society it seeks to serve. It does not exist in a vacuum. Let us not forget that the financial disaster that has occurred also has a moral and social dimension, as well as a regulatory failure. The financial reform legislation seeks, in part, to shift the short-term culture that helped fuel the crisis into a culture of long-term value creation. The moral dimension to this was brought home by Pope Benedict’s recent encyclical, Caritas In Veritate, in which he said that the human consequences of current tendencies towards a short-term economy need to be carefully evaluated. The encyclical asks us to remember that the reduction of cultures to the technological dimension, even if it favors short-term profits, in the long term impedes reciprocal enrichment and the dynamics of cooperation. The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner.

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