Australia’s Commonwealth Bank should be applauded for its
reported profit of $7.1 billion.
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| The Commonwealth Bank as it was in 1912. |
The bank has fulfilled its “reason” beautifully and because
of that epitomises the essence of the capitalistic customs in which
civilization is enmeshed.
The bank is performing and behaving exactly in accordance
with those behaviours; yardsticks set by the community, both here and overseas.
Considerations of the past year of operations by Australia’s
biggest bank are neither right nor wrong, but find their place in either camp
when subjected to personal ideologies.
The Commonwealth Bank Act in 1911 resulted in the founding
of the bank in 1912, empowered then to conduct both savings and general banking
business.
Today, the bank has grown to a business with more than 800
000 shareholders and 52 000 workers in the Commonwealth Bank Group.
The Commonwealth Banks Restructuring Act of 1990 converted
the Commonwealth Bank from a statutory authority to a public company with
conventional share capital and part-Government ownership.
On 17 April 1991, the organisation became a public company
with a share capital governed by the Corporations Law and then was fully
privatised in three stages from 1991 until July 1996.
So, as a private company the bank has adhered to the philosophies
and ideals on which it is built in that it has enriched stakeholders, been a
good corporate citizen and portrayed itself as a beacon of decency in the financial
dynamic.
Detached from the intricacies of the financial world and
remote from its demands and urgencies, criticism can easily and quickly
percolate to the surface, particularly, if one is immune to the fascinations of
finance.
Stripped of all its finery and various ornaments the world
of money has supressed the beautiful intricacies and wonder of being human and
is little more than sophisticated gambling in which the main players rarely
lose.
The finance industry is the engine of “business as usual”
and buttressed by distorted constructions of what is best for man, a few grow
fabulously rich and many equally poor, as we roar, with our eyes shut, our
breath held and our good sense stilled, toward the abyss.
Shrill and comforting adages leap from the lips of the
business as usual boosters, but they take no account of mounting environmental costs;
debts that are beyond payment by the world’s existing financial infrastructure.
The way ahead is about restructuring and retrofitting our
financial system, saying “good-bye” to existing, but costly social, resource
and environmental good times and putting out the welcome mat to an austerity
that will bring with it an enriched way of living we don’t yet understand.
Profits of $7 billion; more for many corporations are something
our earth can no longer afford; we should demand that people have priority over
profit.
