Economy, Growth and Capitalism

As many of you know who have ever read my blog before, I love learning about economics and how it effects people's everyday living.  In the past, some might have called me an anti-capitalist at best and a communist at worst.  This has never been the case really but I do tend to question things that other people see as always being right.

People who don't question the system they grew up in kind of drive me crazy.  It shows a certain type of shallowness of mind to not give any thought to the culture and upbringing you received as a child and adolescent.  We must question what we have, why we have it and if it's a good system moving forward.

Personally, I believe in free trade as a theory but in practice it's much harder.  The states is the biggest offender of just about any country when it comes to 'free' trade.  For free trade to work well you need to take away government subsidies and let the market system determine prices.  Our food and energy sectors are prime examples of where we provide unnecessary subsidies.  If you want to get off fossil fuels, why would you provide subsidies for them?

Wanting free trade is probably largely attributed to my fondness of The Economist magazine.  I love reading that magazine and it leans heavily toward free trade.  Many people protest NAFTA and other free trade agreements.  However, if you ask an economist most of them believe free trade agreements are largely a good thing.  They point out no country has ever risen out of poverty aside from trading with other countries.

Capitalism is needed in my humble opinion to create growth.  Some people question growth and if it's really a good thing, but if you grow an economy it usually translates into more jobs and better lives for people.  Now I guess you could say in a way that I'm spreading capitalism.  I'm going to a largely underdeveloped nation and teaching young people how to start and run their own businesses.  Small businesses are the backbone of any capitalist system.

Capitalism can be a very good system and is probably the best one we have.  As a Christian though I have to question the mass consumerism that it inevitably creates in a society.  For capitalism to work well, you have to have a certain level of consumerism.  This isn't bad necessarily but it can easily get out of hand.  How do you live a simple life in a mass consumerist society?  Is there a balance between some level of consumerism and living off the grid.

I just finished a book entitled "Passing the Plate" about the ungenerosity of American Christians.  It stated one of the contributing factors in the ungenerosity of American Christians was our mass consumerist culture.  Basically, the idea is we are tricked into thinking we don't have enough and need more, more, more.  This rails against the Christian teaching of give more, give more, give more.  How can we step outside our culture and assess if we really need something?

Some would argue that's besides the point.  They say if you have the money than of course you should get the latest gadget or toy.  I don't really agree with this sentiment in the slightest.  Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something, right?

I love teaching business classes in Myanmar because we teach our students how to brainstorm business ideas.  Our first question is, "What are the needs in your community and how can you meet those needs with a business?"  It's different after capitalism has taken root in a society and most needs are met.  What do you do then?

Our advertising machine is a great example of what you do then.  You appeal to wants mostly.  Now we have things like planned obsolescence in most of our consumer goods, particularly electronic goods.  How long can you expect a laptop to work well?  2 years, maybe 5 years max??

A lot of people bemoan the effects of globalization, which is basically free trade across the world.  This has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into the middle class.  At the same time there are certainly side effects that are detrimental.  One of the main ones is people can lose their culture.  Advertisers are so savvy that they can create desires within a population that didn't exist before they set up shop in that country.

So, what's the answer?  I think God's economics are different than man's to begin with.  Some say Jesus was a communist or socialist.  Others point to the Old Testament law to provide a moral backing of private property rights and ownership.  I look at the New Testament and see something radically different than traditional economics teaches us.  

God teaches an economy of abundance, not one of scarcity.  What if we designed our economy around that principle in addition to other things we see in the gospels and early church?  What if people shared their possessions with each other?  What if rich people personally knew poor people and had a vested interest in their well being?  

It's difficult to do, especially in American society where we do an excellent job at separating the rich and poor.  If you wanted to you could probably go your whole life without knowing a truly destitute individual in the states.  You may see them on the streets, but you don't really have to know them.  That has to be a choice you make.

Not to sound too hippyish, but I think if we truly knew people from different socioeconomic backgrounds it would radically alter our economy.  I heard an interview with Jeffrey Sachs who said he believes the pope believes in a capitalism within a moral framework.  That can mean a host of things to different people.  I think at the heart of it has to be an agenda to help people live freer lives.  Freedom is superbly important in a society.  Capitalism has a lot of great attributes, but I believe it can easily lead to slavery in a couple of ways if it's left unchecked.

One is obviously literal slavery.  If you continue to go after the bottom line and increase your profits, you will eventually come to a point where you enslave people.  Whether it's big corporations or individual pimps, slavery abounds in our world.  There is another type of slavery that capitalism and a mass consumerist culture can create.  And that is a slavery to our stuff.  We want more and more and are insatiable in our appetites.  Our culture continues to produce newer and better goods and we are satisfied temporarily at best.  Then another latest greatest invention comes out and we feel inadequate without it.

Economy, growth and capitalism only go so far in enhancing people's lives.  Ultimately, people need the gospel.  They need Jesus to radically transform their hearts and minds to be more in line with His.  Then, and only then, do we stand any real chance at eliminating poverty.  Not just poverty of material things, but poverty of one toward God, toward others and toward the environment.  Everyone suffers from one or more types of poverty; we are foolish to think otherwise.