I have been appointed (well, I volunteered) to be an employee 401(k) representative/liason. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, except that it involves a committee, meetings, and maybe getting feedback from employees at my site. Anyway, the first meeting is today, and one of the prereqs is this article in InvestmentNews ("The Leading News Source for Investment Advisors") on "What fiduciaries should be doing". At one point they discuss how most fiduciaries take an informal approach to overseeing the investment functions of a plan, and how this can run afoul of a law called ERISA which is very strict but apparently pretty vague. They aver that often companies figure if they bring in good performance then they will get a clean bill of health if they are investigated, but this is not how the law works: Even if you get good results, if you got there doing something wrong, you can be nailed. Then they make this comment: "It also seems counterintuitive that the final judgment on whether one has done one's duty will be made on the basis of how one acted, as opposed to the results of the actions one has taken (i.e., solid investment performance)."
So think about that. To them, it seems counterintuitive that you are judged on how you act, rather than the results you achieve.
How contrary to the Gospel this is! I am reminded of two things: One, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's words, "God does not call us to be successful, he calls us to be faithful", that is to say, what counts is not our results but if we acted with faith; two, the principal of Catholic moral theology, "The end does not justify the means", which is exactly opposite to this assertion that what matters is the end (the results of the action one has taken) and not the means (the way one acted).
It just highlighted to me what's wrong with the financial world and how the Gospel has been turned upside down.
I am thankful that at least the federal government is enforcing the right thing on these companies.
