Momentum for Economic Reform?
by: Mike Ignatowski on October 9th, 2009 | 5 Comments »
During a meeting of the NYC Network of Spiritual Progressives group this week, the topic of discussion turned to economic reform. The original NSP “Covenant with America” dealt with this topic in a general way by promoting a new bottom line in our values system, and in a specific way by promoting the Social Responsibility Amendment for corporate behavior. The discussion at the meeting focused on our disappointment that very little has happened in terms of economic reforms as a result of this past year’s economic meltdown. In fact, some of us were wondering if this is a topic that we could legitimately express anger over. Fortunately, I’m beginning to see some indication that the momentum is finally starting to build for economic reform.
Yesterday morning I received an invitation to a major conference on Building the New Economy in Washington DC sponsored by The Campaign for America’s Future. As appropriate for a conference dealing with economic transformation, registration is completely free and open to everyone. I plan to go.
While an important aspect of economic reform deals with changes to regulations, the other important aspect deals with changes to our cultural attitudes and behavior. I recently came across two optimistic examples of such changes in Good Magazine. The first is a student movement for MBAs at the Harvard Business School to take a pledge to “serve the greater good” and to “act with utmost integrity”. More than 50% of the graduating class has taken the oath. The second interesting bit of news that caught my eye was a project at Google that involved employees submitting ideas to change the world and help as many people as possible. Five winning ideas will be selected and Google will spend $10 million to make them real. Are these an indication of a larger transformation happening in our society? Perhaps so. We thought it was an interesting topic to focus on at our NSP meeting.
Thanks, Mike. Hearing about positive trends in changing the direction of our economy really helps me. I’ve become almost jaded about the possibility of such change that often I just skim over the economic news. I think the reason I got so excited about writing for Tikkun Daily is the Spiritual Contract with America and the Social Responsibility Amendment. When I read them I was blown away, because that’s the direction we need to go. But so few people even think about these things. And if they do, they think in such narrow terms.
I, too, have been hoping that the financial debacle we just experienced (and continue to experience) would force us to move in more positive directions. But the US seems to be just reinstating the same old economy with the same old people making the same old decisions, based on greed and fear. So hearing about Harvard MBAs taking an integrity and “greater good” pledge is really good news. And Google’s challenge to change the world and help as many people as possible is fantastic (I hope that there’s a green component of those prize-winning suggestions!)
As a socialist, I try to point out to people the absurdity of our economic system, especially when it is in crash mode. You have factories and workers idle, but a huge demand in the world for basic necessities. Everyone could be working, and everyone could be having their basic needs met (if we don’t destroy the planet in the process). But the system we currently have is not geared for this. It is geared to serve the needs of people with money. It’s great if you have money – everyone is at your beck and call to do your bidding and satisfy your every whim. And when the economy is healthy, it sort of works as the wealth trickles down, so that those at the bottom, who do the scraping and bowing and actually make the products we consume, are at least able to scrape by from month to month (unless they get sick or their car stops running). But when the capitalist economy crashes, the trickle down stops, and people become homeless and start going without meals. On the one hand, I’d like to see the economy get back up to speed just to relieve the suffering, but on the other, I feel like we are missing out on an opportunity to change gears and move forward to a better model. But if the vested interests won’t even let us have a public heath insurance OPTION, and they don’t want any government spending to put people to work, just to bail out the bankers, then I fear we are in for another bloody civil conflict when working people run out of options. This does not bode well for spiritual progressives, because everyone will be in hate and anger mode, and it could go to the authoritarian left or right, because extremists thrive on violent conflict.
My wife and I saw the movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” Michael Moore has a creative mind. The rich need to pay more in taxes. Warren Buffet has said that he pays 15% in taxes. He is a multibillionaire and his secretary pays 25% in taxes. Something is screwed up in our country. I am willing to pay in taxes if it will benefit the common good.
I was rushed for time for my earlier commit and so I left out that in the movie I saw greed and predatory capitalism as Americans’ god.
I attend Mass on Saturday. At the Mass the gospel reading was from Mark 10:17-30. These verses discuss the difficulty of a rich man entering heaven. There is nothing wrong in being rich. It is what a person does with his wealth that may making entering heaven a difficulty. I believe that a rich person should use his money to promote the common good and to strive to transform earth into the Kingdom of God where all persons are included and no one is excluded from God’s gifts here on earth.
Heaven is a supernaturnal state and the Kingdom of God is our present state or our naturnal state. By striving to make a Kingdom of God on earth we will be ready to enter our heavenly supernaturnal state.
Shalom
Here is what America and the world need in order to attain peace and justice on our planet for all of God’s children. Here is also what I believe God wants for His children and His vision for the world.
Shalom translated means peace but it is much more than peace. Shalom is a vision of social wholeness; a state of well being for all, where everyone has access to the goods of creation intended to meet the needs of all. Shalom is the substance of the biblical vision of one community embracing all creation where all enjoy the resources that make communal harmony joyous and effective.
Shalom is nothing less than God’s intended vision of the world, a dream of God that resists our tendencies for division, hostility, fear, lust, and misery. If there is to be well-being, it will not be just for the isolated and insulated individuals, it is security and prosperity granted to the whole community: the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the tax collector and the sinner, the despised and the rejected, young and old, the have and the have nots, the powerful and the dependent. We are in it together. Together we stand before God’s blessings and together we receive the gift of life. Shalom comes only to the inclusive embracing community that excludes no one.