Economics is known as The Dismal Science, and listening to economists talk proves why. Between the bowties and the Econ-speak, it's enough to make you saw your own head off.

Now, your Aardvark is a free-marketeer, and is a laissez-faire 'Vark therefore, but he also knows the limits thereof. Behold the kite: is there a freer aerial toy than that, swooping and soaring in the breeze? (This 'Vark prefers the box variety, himself.)

What does not come to mind at first glance is that the string may be the most important part of the kite. Without that tether to the ground, the kite becomes a bit of aerial flotsam, spinning and flopping through the air along with the escaped Wal-Mart bags, ultimately crashing uselessly to the ground. It is the limiting factor of the string that enables the kite to fly effectively.

So it is with the economy, and especially to my thinking, Wall Street. "GREED" is the word used most effectively by the Leftist, progressive crowd as they point quivering fingers, clawlike, while demanding of Congress that Something Must Be Done. Well, something HAS been done, millenia ago. A quick perusal of the Mosaic Law and the book of Proverbs will unearth a treasure of ethical guidelines for money and commerce. Just weights and measures, treating the rich and poor alike, not "adjusting" prices depending on who you are dealing with. Such simple ethical practices would go far toward fixing the Wall Street mess, but it will require personal decisions on the Street's denizens. Perhaps there is a fertile field for evangelism in the realm of commerce.

George Washington made his thoughts clear on the matter of governance:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports...It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government.

I would certainly extend this to the realms of commerce. "Religion and Morality" (how quaint!) provide the string to make the kite soar. The Madoffs, and the cartoony stock traders are all brought to heel by the tether of ethics and morality, but that tether brings the freedom to true success. Wall Street is currently governed by avarice. Perhaps if we believers can shed our own animosities and caricatures, we can share the faith once delivered to those with the knowledge and ability to do economics right. "Make disciples of the nations" said our Founder. Wall Street needs the discipline of the Gospel.