Christianity and the Economy

After many years of thought and reflection about the matter I have come down to the following beliefs about the economy based on my faith, experience, and reason.  Our members often look for guidance on issues of economic justice and this is a distillation of my position.

1. Capitalism is both extremely productive and destructive at the same time.
2. It is also the best system we have. Command and control economies just don't work, suffering from both political evils and deadly hubris.
3. Human dignity requires freedom, risk, reward and consequences which are virtues that capitalism supports.
4. Human dignity requires community as well. Unrestrained capitalism is corrosive of community and heedless of the common good.
5. Racism, historic and current, has created systemic disadvantages for people of color.  This injustice requires rectification and sacrifice on the part of people of class and race privilege.
6. If we accept the benefits of capitalism we must also accept responsibility for its permanent downside - unemployment never below 5% (and often much higher), massive displacement, destruction and transition of the workforce on a regular basis, and growing income inequality.
7. Therefore our Government - because charity at 2% of GDP cannot even approach its ability to aggregate resources - must work to restrain our worst impulses and moderate the effects of capitalism for the unemployed and the unemployable. A goal should be a broad and stable middle class of folks earning between $50k and $120 per year to ensure a stable democracy and general prosperity.
8. Therefore those with more than enough must give more to rectify the imbalance through taxes,  and charitable gifts of money, skills and time.
9. If your 'more than enough', seems like 'never enough', get your house in order.

To see an excellent treatment of this topic read "The Life You Can Save" by Peter Singer.

Also, in preparation for my Sunday forum: 1% Revolution, check out these videos on YouTube by Peter Singer and Dan Pallotta. They're too long to share in whole at forum, but well worth the watch for sake of discussion.

Thanks for watching!

- The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel