How Greed Replaced God

Paul Vigna on how the religion of money has conquered, well, everything.

Is the materialism, hedonism and selfishness of our time just the stuff humans are sadly made of? Plenty of arguments contend that capitalism at worst (or, worse, at best) just unleashed who we really are, that we’ve always been covetous and envious, that inequality now isn’t qualitatively different from ages past. But Paul Vigna’s new book, The Almightier: How Money Became God, Greed Became Virtue, and Debt Became Sin, instead proposes that the world we believe inevitable now, even necessary or praiseworthy, was unimaginable a thousand years ago.

We invited Paul on explain what changed, how our obsession with cash money has been centuries in the making, but that a specific series of altogether unheralded transformations in Renaissance Italy created a capitalist juggernaut before which the world and everything in it proved helpless. The religion of money won, decisively. Beginning with the Catholic Church, first Europe — the Protestant Reformation, ostensibly kicked off to fight back, was soon co-opted — and soon thereafter the world was converted, if even by fire. Though Vigna doesn’t believe we’re hopeless.

In fact, as he suggests, capitalism’s brutal inventiveness and acidic dynamism might’ve sown the seeds for a better world.

How’s that? Well, for that, you’ll have to—

Listen and Earn

It’s rare to find an author who can explain heavy, dense topics with ease, with verse, and with obvious dedication to his subject.

Watch our full episode with Paul on Avenue M’s YouTube channel…

You can also listen on Apple and Spotify (as well as other major platforms!)

This Show Doesn’t Have To Go On

Some weeks back, Haroon spotted The Almightier at West Chester’s Barnes & Noble; intrigued, he picked up a copy—and knew immediately we had to have Paul on. Paul is the author of three previous books, including Guts: The Anatomy of the Walking Dead, but we’re not going to suggest there’s anything but coincidence linking a zombie apocalypse and the subject of capitalism unrestrained.

For well over two decades, Paul was a reporter and editor for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal; he’s got an extensive background covering cryptocurrency, markets, economics and finance. He’s appeared on pretty much every major media network, spoken at South by Southwest, New York Comic Con, Haroon’s alma mater and other lesser institutions, and is a frequent guest on podcasts.

Of course, this appearance on Avenue M is now his favorite.

You can read his full bio on his website, which also includes information on how to contact and follow him. If you’re on social media, you can follow Paul on Twitter, BlueSky, TikTok (yes actually) and beyond (see that bio).

Paul is a fellow Substacker! Check out (and subscribe to) his great Substack, PofV:

Incidentally, during the episode, Paul cites Michael Green (among others). That should point you in the right direction.

Wealthy, Unhealthy and Medicated

In the coming weeks, Joey and Haroon will release a new episode featuring Brian Alexander, author of Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town, the gripping narrative of how private equity, Wall Street, deregulation and globalization almost destroyed Lancaster, Ohio, the town he grew up in. You can perhaps sense a theme? Joey and Haroon will have a follow-up episode diving deeper into these themes, bringing in faith perspectives, what God, greed and even the role of government might mean for masculinity, the Midwest, parenting, and what’s left of middle-age. We know it’s not always hopeful. But it’s always meaningful.

And isn’t that what we want out of the world? Direction—and company along the way? Before you go, we hope you like, follow and

We’ve got teasers and trailers, plus podcasts and more that we love, enjoy, appreciate or just vehemently disagree with on our Instagram (@AvenueMPod), X (@AvenueMPod) and Facebook.

However you got here, thanks for listening and watching!

This week’s episode is sponsored by The Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Cincinnati’s Xavier University. Dedicated to deepening understanding across faiths and promoting systemic change, the Center hosts thoughtful conversations about religion, reason, and so much more—visit their website for more information. We’re honored by this support, especially because it’s a sign of our commitment to Cincinnati and Ohio.

Avenue M is produced by Bespoken Live with music by Zach Swelber, who plays in Circle It and Mosant.