"The international controller for the Vatican’s Prefecture of Economic Affairs, Thomas Hong-Soon Han, said last week that Christians must go beyond the logic of “the greatest benefit at the lowest cost possible” and that the demands of justice and charity must not be sacrificed in economic activity, as the Pope has explained in his encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.”
"The greatest benefit at the lowest possible cost" sounds as though, with a little bit of work, it could be the slogan of almost any retailer in America. This is the lie we are sold every day. The question is, who benefits? Maybe it's the workers in third world countries that sew our clothes for pennies a day. Maybe it's the consumer that buys those clothes with the wages that have been reduced by competition from third world slave labor, if they have a job at all. Or, maybe the true beneficiaries are the owners of the corporation, profiting from the pain caused by their "profit at any cost" business practices.
In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the Korean expert explained what a Christian perspective should be in the case of a building project, for example, noting that economic convenience must not be the sole factor in determining which company to contract. “The proposals of a given company need to be considered as well as the working conditions, the salary levels, in sum, how justice is concretely carried out in the organization.”
If a company engages in worker exploitation, the Church must reject this behavior because it would otherwise be indirectly complicit in the evil, Han said.
The same can be said of the consumer that supports the corporation that exploits workers in the name of a "deal". I'm as guilty of this as the next guy. I've not had much work lately so I try to find the best price on everything I buy. But I find myself asking, "What is the true cost of my decision to shop where I do?" I wonder if I would pay a bit more would I be making a more morally acceptable choice? Would the extra money I spend go to improve the lives of the workers or would it just be applied to the bottom line? In todays profit at any expense version of the free market my guess would be the latter.
He went on to warn that it is easy to give in to the temptation to place a priority on achieving favorable conditions from an economic point of view, and that this is sometimes justified in the name of the demands of charity. “The alleviating of one sector—it is said—can mean greater availability for other social and humanitarian activities. But in any case what is forgotten is that ‘charity demands justice,’ as the Pope writes in 'Caritas in Veritate.'”
The argument, one that I used to buy into, is always made that if it weren't for these slave wage jobs people in the third world would have no employment at all. I suppose that depends on your definition of employment. Many of the people that work in the factories that provide us with our cheap consumer goods have moved to cities for these jobs. Before they moved, many lived in rural areas, farming at a sustenance level. They may have barely managed to maintain their own lives but at least they could live independently. Now they live in cities, dependent on a barely functioning infrastructure to support their most basic needs. As the world economy contracts and their jobs disappear what will these people do? The infrastructure will disappear quickly, leaving them without means for their own survival, destitute and dependent on the state. America, the bastion of rugged individualism and free market independence has created, through our incessant demand for "the greatest benefit at the lowest possible cost", slavery and despair, starvation and hopelessness. Hardly the Jeffersonian ideals we preach to the world.
"Referring to the current global economic crisis, Han said its origins stem from a “moral deficit.” “Capitalism does not work without an ethical foundation. Things fall apart when their foundation is not based on moral principles. On the dollar bill it says, ‘In God We Trust.’ For this reason if the market is based solely on selfish interest and not on ‘trusting in God’ it fails.”
While the Church does not condemn capitalism as such, he noted, she also asserts that the market economy must have at its center the human person and his dignity. “'Caritas in Veritate' is very clear about this,” he said."
Capitalism, functioning within the bounds of morality and ethical behavior is good. Capitalism as practiced in most of America today, bound only to the pretext that the corporation exists to make a profit, is evil. Capitalism is capable of raising the standard of living of more people than any other system ever developed by man. I wouldn't want to live any other way. The greed that is so evident today is not real capitalism, it is self interest at the expense of all else writ large. Real capitalism requires that all parties involved benefit from the activity. This isn't to say that all benefit equally. The more risk one takes the greater the rewards should be. And this isn't to say that failure isn't an option. Even failure, when honest and not the result of some sort of immoral or unethical activity, will cause a benefit because we can learn from it. Basically, I'm talking about good sportsmanship.
In America we've taken the game of capitalism and tried to cheat our way to the top. We've bought off the referees and rewritten the rules. We've changed the playing field to suit our needs. We have played a take no prisoners game and our lack of sportsmanship has changed the game so radically it is hardly recognizable. We are no longer capitalists; we are opportunists. And, we've given capitalism a bad name.
"After underscoring that ultimately individual persons are responsible for economic structures, Han called for “a formation of consciences in the gospel values. This is the principle task of the Church’s social teaching and this is pointed out in the new encyclical by Benedict XVI.”
Han stressed that the Church “is not an NGO or a charitable entity. The action of Christians is based on charity, but stems from the truth: Caritas in veritate. We cannot overlook the incarnation of a God who became man for love of men. This is perfect charity. The truth of our faith acquires more credibility if it bears witness to love.”
Until we begin to apply the same rules to our business practices that we expect our children to obey at home we will not return to a truly free market. Corporate profit does not erase the need for civility and personal responsibility nor does it remove the strictures that bind us in all other human activity. As Christians we are called to love one another first and let all other decisions and actions flow from this basic command. American capitalism has abandoned this principle and thus has abandoned God. We must turn back or we will suffer the consequences.
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This reminds me of what John Adams said:
ReplyDeleteWe have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
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A government of freedom and an economy of free market principles only work for a moral and religious people.