“Does money rule the world?” To this question a five-week survey is being devoted by the French Catholic daily La Croix, also in preparation for the Social Week of French Catholics, to be held on the same theme in Paris from 14 to 16 November ( cf.SirEurope 72/2003). In its edition of 28 October La Croix investigates the relation between the French and banks. In particular, it recounts the advantages and difficulties of a “trader” (the professional who buys and sells money) and describes the activities of an American company that transfers money from one part of the world to another. All this is complemented by the thoughts of some famous authors, anecdotes and even the photo of a famous painting by Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew, which graphically describes God’s calling of the “publican”, i.e. tax collector, Matthew. From the survey it emerges, for example, that “the French use and abuse their banks”, also because “they are the prime users of plastic money, such as credit cards and bank cards. “The use of bank cards is increasing by 6% per year, twice that of electronic transfers and cash withdrawals, while the use of cheques had declined by 6%”. The attitude of the French to those they perceive as earning “too much”, such as young traders, “who at the age of only 25 can permit themselves the luxury of a watch costing 30,000 euros”, is curious. “France is an ideological country in which money is taboo. One becomes a suspect person if one earns large sums of money”, says the article. Ever more requested (approximately three transactions per second) are, moreover, the services of an American company that transfers money to 165 countries in the world, especially thanks to the repatriated earnings of immigrants. But after 11 September and the crackdown on terrorism, this activity has become more strictly controlled, because it risks being a cover for money laundering.
