Spokane Friends Meeting

 In modern times the sense of citizenship has played an important role as a crucial backdrop for economics, including for the philosophy of Adam Smith and for the perspective of the founders of the American Republic. The ‘pursuit of happiness’ was put forward alongside, not as an alternative, to civic responsibility. In our own times the notion of citizenship can still provide a crucial backdrop for key principles of economic life.
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The hope of Advent is described by the prophets as a dawning of a new age, marked by peace and plenty, by banqueting and feasting, by security and rest. Don’t let the “new age” handle upset you. It is nothing of which to be afraid. This New Age has a spiritual dimension as well as a material one. But if we take Matthew 5 seriously, it all depends on the practice of justice and it is a justice after which we hunger and thirst – a justice made perfect by the coming of Christ as judge and liberator. Most Christians, including Friends, earnestly believe that the new age, which we more often describe as ‘the Kingdom of God’ has already begun with Jesus the ‘Christ’ ( the Messiah, the anointed one). The Gospel of John’s sacramental imagery blends into one the material and spiritual dimensions of this new age. The huge challenge for us is to see how that messianic reality find expression in our economic life.

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But the first set of obstacles may be not with our structures but with ourselves – our attachment to the ‘normal’, whether old or new. In other words we need to address the things within us that stifle hope and desire for a better world. That’s the place to start. After all, John’s message is not just about God’s people traveling through the wilderness. It’s about God who will be on the march. It’s a time to clear the way. Perfect solutions can come later.

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One of the most basic features of the real economy is water. Water is, quite simply, a matter of life and death, whether it is a case of too little (drought) or too much (flooding). The very first words of the Bible are: ‘In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.’

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 Thinking of investing in an ethical fund? If seeking even higher returns is what you are after perhaps we could interest you in a ‘sin portfolio’? A sin portfolio consists, typically, of shares in gambling, tobacco and alcohol, arms and ‘adult services’. One study of ‘sin portfolios’ in 21 countries, undertaken by Frank Fabozzi, found that they outperformed the stock market indices in every year but two between 1970 and 2007. Or maybe you might want to consider a ‘Vice Fund’? This made returns of 43% between August 2002 and May 2009 as compared with a 15% average return on the Standard and Poor Index. Does it pay to be just?

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When the Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, their Persian liberators and benefactors were seen as God’s agents. Cyrus and Darius had even provided subsidies for the rebuilding of the Temple and the practice of worship. Before long, however, the subsidies stopped and the time for taxes arrived. Why? Because the Persian universal mission had not been completed. The Egyptians would not stay defeated and the Greeks would not be defeated. The response? Vast increases in military spending. Large fleets and massive armies all had to be paid for. But as one unsuccessful campaign was followed by another, the need for yet further military build-up grew. Darius was held back by the Greeks at the battle of Marathon in 490 BC. His chosen son Xerxes continued with his father’s unfinished business. But though successful in re-conquering Egypt, Xerxes was defeated by Athens at Salamis in 480 BC. And that was it. Persia’s universal mission had been thwarted. (Does all this sound familiar?)

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 Markets, governed by the impersonal laws of supply and demand, are the best rule for a sound economy – right? Well, not always. For one thing, it’s not a true reflection of reality. Economic activity also proceeds on the basis of relationships, personal as well as institutional. And, like markets, relationships have both beneficial and harmful effects on the economy. Some relationships can stifle competition or involve downright corruption. You only have to think of the widespread practice of insider trading which is as hard to prove as it is insidious. Or ‘crony capitalism’, for example, the corrupt relationships between property developers and bankers who took a stake in property development which have brought ruin to the economy in Ireland. Or the links between former Members of Parliament in Great Britain and civil servants with directorates and well-paid jobs in the private sector. Or the cozy brother-in-law non competitive contracts awarded by our own government.

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It has become commonplace to say: ‘A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.’ And in both cases the saying

applies. Yet even so, as a McKinsey study has warned, changes taken in response to crises are less likely to succeed than those taken from a position of strength. The point here is not to close the debate but to open it and to ask: why, in the face of world poverty and the threat to the environment today is there not the same urgency about innovation and what can we do to ensure that the most effective paths are chosen. And at the heart of that question is not simply a concern about technology but about justice. Is that not the meaning of the warnings of Jeremiah and Luke?

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 Harry Markopolos was a fraud investigator. When he saw the way Bernard Madoff had been using ‘Ponzi’ schemes to defraud investors, he reported his concerns with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This was in 1999. No action was taken until December 2008 when Madoff himself confessed to fraud amounting to $50 billion, later found to be $65 billion. Markopolos accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of ‘financial illiteracy’ for failing to heed his warnings. He was awarded a silver whistle by the Boston Security Analysts Society.

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Inscribed on all US currency is the motto ‘In God We Trust’. It first appeared in 1864, and then only on coins. Not all American citizens were happy with it. Some saw it as incompatible with the separation of church and state. To others it seemed an irreverent, if not sacrilegious, invocation of God’s holy name. But it served a purpose – a two fold purpose. The overt purpose was a straight-forward affirmation of faith. We place our trust in God, not gold. But at a less conscious level, the motto also served another purpose. And this had more to do with ideology than with faith. It suggests that, because we see ourselves as the sort of people who trust in God, might not the system we have set up have some sort of divine backing? Does our economic system- capitalism – have divine backing?

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