What would Jesus do about the Economy?
Note: the following is intended purely for light-hearted entertainment purposes only. If your attachment to a Christian religion is so strong that you cannot find humor in it, I respectfully suggest you browse to another blog now.
In the face of the massive failure of the financial industry and the subsequent market fluctuations, hard questions have been asked of the various Government responses around the world. In evaluating these responses it behooves us to look for persons of impeccable moral repute and, ideally, perfect foresight in determining an appropriate course of action.
As in many situations, we ask ourselves: What would Jesus do?
We identify 3 indicative events:
1. The Loaves and the Fishes
2. Water to Wine
3. The Sellers in the Temple
Analysis:
In historical times before mass transit and refrigeration the ability to move perishable goods was limited, creating a small, local market for goods such as fish. These "micro-economies" meant that the sudden appearance of a large number of free goods would have a significant devaluing effect on existing stock. It seems likely that the sudden creation of extra bread and fish would have resulted in a temporary - but possibly significant if the margins were slim enough - market crash for merchants dealing in basic food goods.
The production of additional bread and fish, as well as the transformation of water into wine, both in situations where there was no obvious local shortage in the market, suggests that Jesus would have been strongly in favor of dramatic intervention even were the situation not as desperate as it is.
Finally, the forcible removal of the sellers from the Temple suggests an inclination towards a controlled, rather than free market. Rather than letting the invisible hand of the market encourage sellers to move to premises that would cause less offense for a growing percentage of their customer base, Jesus took direct action against them. We conclude therefore that direct intervention by Governments in the marketplace would meet with divine approval, rather than allowing market forces to define the course of events.
This analysis points strongly to the conclusion that Jesus would be in favor of the $700billion bailout.
In the face of the massive failure of the financial industry and the subsequent market fluctuations, hard questions have been asked of the various Government responses around the world. In evaluating these responses it behooves us to look for persons of impeccable moral repute and, ideally, perfect foresight in determining an appropriate course of action.
As in many situations, we ask ourselves: What would Jesus do?
We identify 3 indicative events:
1. The Loaves and the Fishes
2. Water to Wine
3. The Sellers in the Temple
Analysis:
In historical times before mass transit and refrigeration the ability to move perishable goods was limited, creating a small, local market for goods such as fish. These "micro-economies" meant that the sudden appearance of a large number of free goods would have a significant devaluing effect on existing stock. It seems likely that the sudden creation of extra bread and fish would have resulted in a temporary - but possibly significant if the margins were slim enough - market crash for merchants dealing in basic food goods.
The production of additional bread and fish, as well as the transformation of water into wine, both in situations where there was no obvious local shortage in the market, suggests that Jesus would have been strongly in favor of dramatic intervention even were the situation not as desperate as it is.
Finally, the forcible removal of the sellers from the Temple suggests an inclination towards a controlled, rather than free market. Rather than letting the invisible hand of the market encourage sellers to move to premises that would cause less offense for a growing percentage of their customer base, Jesus took direct action against them. We conclude therefore that direct intervention by Governments in the marketplace would meet with divine approval, rather than allowing market forces to define the course of events.
This analysis points strongly to the conclusion that Jesus would be in favor of the $700billion bailout.
posted by PhiRatE at
10:53 PM
0 Comments
