Roy Lloyd: Greed, Hypocrisy, and Occupy Wall Street
A recent study found that those rich enough to live high up in their buildings lead a disengaged life, rarely getting involved with what is below them on the street.
At the core of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations is the conviction that those in the tall steeples of power-huge banks, big corporations, brokerage firms, government officials-are sitting comfortably in the high bleachers, far removed from the reality most people endure.
No wonder there is anger that banks, bailed out of their self-created financial disasters by money from the public, then evicted people from their homes and now want to charge us for using our own money through our debit cards.
Protesters wonder why elected officials want to punish those in need while showering blessings on the rich, professing that neglecting the poor and those out of work is really helping them not to be lazy.
Greed is sucking decency and neighborliness out of America. Two thousand years ago, Jesus said hypocrites were like whitewashed tombs, looking beautiful on the outside, but filled with lawlessness and filth. He could have been describing today's high bleacher hypocrites.
This is Roy Lloyd.
[Originally presented as a commentary on 1010 WINS Radio in New York City.]