Jeff Grant on SAC Capital & some not-so-surprising replies!

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut
 

Rev. Jeff Grant comments 

on the NY Times Article 

About SAC Capital 

& some not-so-surprising replies!

Nov. 5, 2013

Dear New York Times, 

In Response to your recent article about SAC Capital's Settlement and Guilty Plea:

 
  
These comments and replies appeared online Nov. 4, 2013 on nytimes.com dealbook: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/sac-capital-agrees-to-plead-guilty-to-insider-trading/?comments#permid=10442199.

The Progressive Prison Project and the Innocent Spouse & Children Project based in Greenwich, Connecticut are the first ministries in the United States to support with intentionality the families of people accused or convicted of white collar and other nonviolent crimes. These families receive so little compassion and empathy - and are so easy to "other" - by a world that is all too eager to believe the next sensationalized headline and to ignore the human side of things.

It's true that the SAC Capital matter is a tragedy of epic proportions. But as I see it, the biggest tragedy of all about white-collar and nonviolent crime is not how big the matter is, or sensationalized the headlines - it is in our failure to see it as a human story, with real people, real brokenness, and real families left behind.

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director I Progressive Prison Project I Innocent Spouse & Children Project I Greenwich, CT, USA

Assoc. Minister I Director of Prison Ministries I First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, CT, 06604, USA
progressiveprisonproject.org

Nov. 4, 2013 at 6:50 p.m.

Some Replies:

Dear Rev. Jeff Grant,
I disagree. The failure to see humanity lies with the men (few women are allowed power on Wall Street) who cheat the system and subject their families to the fallout. In addition family members often look the other way, that makes them complicit not victims. The families of which you speak have been treated royally (e.g. the most powerful political allies, the best schools, the best clubs, the best designers, the best charity events, the best resorts, the best (multiple) homes, the best money can buy...) which keeps them "separate" from the "other" (us). They do this without question. Mafia titans (who get caught) are in jail, very few Wall Street criminals (who get caught) hang their hats there. The public shaming (I gather) you refer to is small payment for this outsized biblical greed.

.
Nov. 4, 2013 at 7:39 p.m.

Naples, FL

I think you need to read more about the have-nots, especially those who've suffered so much since the Great Crash, who live in their cars or or live in shelter, who've lost their jobs and their self esteem and taken their lives because they had to little.

I think you need perspective about the way the rest of the country has been living/surviving because of Wall St's flagrant disregard for the rest of us. Their only care has been the guy in the mirror and that guys kids--that's it.

Sorry I can't share your compassion for the 1% but I've been looking at the 99% for so long and their plight is so huge that one can never compare it.

Shame on Wall St., but b/c most of them are socio. Paths, they don feel anything but for the guy in the mirror.

Nov. 4, 2013 at 10:03 p.m.


Rev. Grant,

You are asking for cheap grace. There has been no honest admitting of wrong, and no apology from this man or his colleagues in crime. I suggest that if you are looking for "the biggest tragedy" you look for families that have lost their homes, people who have lost their jobs, and the children of those families who don't have enough to eat. I suggest you consider the plight of the truly poverty-stricken worldwide, and consider that we'd be able to reverse that problem overnight if we could claw back the billions the world's wealthiest have taken in in just the last decade. That's right. We could be living in a world in which no one died for lack of food. Instead we have tycoons with their own private Picassos.

Nov. 4, 2013 at 8:45 p.m.

More thoughts & submissions to come soon. Jeff 

__________________

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Director, Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Greenwich, Connecticut, USA

Assoc. Minister/
Director of Prison Ministries
First Baptist Church of Bridgeport
126 Washington Avenue, 1st Fl.
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA  06604

 

(0) +1203.769.1096

(m) +1203.339.5887
jgrant@progressiveprisonproject.org
jg3074@columbia.edu