Ailing economies need conversion?

THE question entered my mind as I read news items and several commentaries about the ailing economies of the US and Europe recently. I’m afraid these are not concerns of the Americans and the Europeans only. They have deep repercussions on the whole of humanity. They concern all of us.

This is because, in the first place, our business and economic activities are not merely mechanical functions that involve the distribution and regulation of money and other resources. They are human acts, subjects of moral requirements also. They are not purely technical operations.

As such, our business and economic activities affect our soul and not just our bodily and material needs. They involve intentions and the inner workings of a person’s soul. They entail a responsibility to infuse them with love that brings with it justice. They need to be oriented to God.

Besides, our business and economic activities are prominently social activities. What one does in this field involves others—either as suppliers, customers, clients, etc. We all get involved there, one way or another. Even the most reclusive person cannot escape from the effects of business and economics.

Our business and economic activities can go beyond provincial and country limits. The way they are conducted now, they have strong global dimensions. And when leading economies are involved, then practically the whole world economy can be affected, including ours.

In short, our business and economic activities reflect what’s inside our soul, our mind and heart, and also the character of a people’s culture and ethos. They tell a lot about ourselves and the world—whether we are with God or simply with our own selves.

That’s why when an economy gets into trouble, it can be that it is sick not only externally but also internally, not only in the technical level but also in the spiritual level that actually gives shape, direction and meaning to the technical aspect.

In the current discourse among economists trying to come up with solutions to the economic crisis in the US and Europe, I feel that the root cause is not simply a matter of the technical, but rather of the spiritual.

This can be seen in the fact that in spite of the massive stimulus and bail-out programs implemented earlier, the crisis still remains, and in fact, is spreading. A lot of money has been pumped in, but the results are still dismal.

Some economists still think that the Keynesian solution is what would do the miracle. It happened during the Great Depression. It must happen also now. Ergo, more stimulus, more quantitative easing.

It amazes me that even a Nobel Prize economist would bat for indiscriminate putting in of money, without giving due regard to where this money would come from and where and how it would be used. He still blindly believes that some invisible hand would jump-start the economy to recovery and vitality.

I don’t wish to go into the technical aspects, but my two cents already tell me that the circumstances of the Great Depression are very different from those of today’s crisis.

In the former, a lot of latent productive capabilities and opportunities needed to be tapped. Population was at its productive level. With just a little planning and reorganizing of the economic elements and players, a dam-burst of productivity took place.

In the latter, we seem to have exhausted the productive potentials. Population profile indicates a growing number of aging people expecting entitlements and support. The younger generation, while productive, is often immersed in the idle business of pure commercialism, if not of hedonism. It’s a deceptive productivity that is produced.

In general, people are spending more than what they are earning, and are pursuing business ventures that are not really needed and are sometimes even detrimental to human dignity. Just think of the entertainment business, for example.

I feel that what is happening in the economic front these days in the so-called developed countries is a corrective moment in this long process of doing business and economics mired with defective inputs.

It’s like saying, we have been wrong in the way we do business. Some things might be right, and for a long time we managed to hide the wrong things. But the time has arrived for the accumulated effects of the wrong things to take center stage.

The main message seems to be, we need to rectify, to be converted from our evil ways. We need drastic lifestyle change. We need to do business and economics for God’s glory and not just for human convenience.