Comments on: reimagining Capitalism (part two) http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/ irregularities and other absurdities Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:23:50 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Josh Walchester http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-70588 Josh Walchester Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:18:48 +0000 http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/?p=1683#comment-70588 This to me is the crux of it: Capitalism tries to harness greed, to make it a good thing. Adam Smith said the selfish but clever baker could be trusted, because he knew he could not get away with poisoning. Like I said before this requires sufficient information to know if the baker's putting crap in it, and anything you don't know about is immune to capitalism. But there are other features of people that are good to use, not just their desire for power/influence and their fear. Ecclesiastes says that God has given man the capacity to enjoy his work, and clearly seeing what you have achieved is immensely satisfying, as is seeing other people blessed by what you do. If you rip everyone off and then spend the money on a Ps3, then you are missing out one of Gods biggest gifts to godless man. People also need vision, and a sense of progression, and while that is most fully found in being discipled by Jesus and the promise we have, just as service is perfected in sacrificial love, companies can still get a vision and be invigorated by it. Cooperate culture study fills a billion books, but from my perspective it's basically about harnessing creative drive, satisfaction in service, and the desire to move forward. I forgot to mention love, but that is the invisible centrepiece, as people need to feel valued and loved, and if they can't get it elsewhere they will try to get it in work. People will react to the love of Jesus in the workplace like they do everywhere, they need it but they won't always accept it. Also Jesus said an interesting thing about efficiency in the parable of the moneylender. This guy lets all his bosses creditors off lightly, not getting the full profit he could off them, and in future has more clients. Efficiency above all else is inhuman, but a little bit of mercy goes a long way. This is mirrored in the old law, where people would produce as best they could, but when the time came to harvest, they would leave the edges of the field to the poor, so that the final tricky 20% went to the desperate, and the rest to everyone else. This to me is the crux of it: Capitalism tries to harness greed, to make it a good thing. Adam Smith said the selfish but clever baker could be trusted, because he knew he could not get away with poisoning. Like I said before this requires sufficient information to know if the baker’s putting crap in it, and anything you don’t know about is immune to capitalism. But there are other features of people that are good to use, not just their desire for power/influence and their fear. Ecclesiastes says that God has given man the capacity to enjoy his work, and clearly seeing what you have achieved is immensely satisfying, as is seeing other people blessed by what you do. If you rip everyone off and then spend the money on a Ps3, then you are missing out one of Gods biggest gifts to godless man. People also need vision, and a sense of progression, and while that is most fully found in being discipled by Jesus and the promise we have, just as service is perfected in sacrificial love, companies can still get a vision and be invigorated by it. Cooperate culture study fills a billion books, but from my perspective it’s basically about harnessing creative drive, satisfaction in service, and the desire to move forward. I forgot to mention love, but that is the invisible centrepiece, as people need to feel valued and loved, and if they can’t get it elsewhere they will try to get it in work. People will react to the love of Jesus in the workplace like they do everywhere, they need it but they won’t always accept it. Also Jesus said an interesting thing about efficiency in the parable of the moneylender. This guy lets all his bosses creditors off lightly, not getting the full profit he could off them, and in future has more clients. Efficiency above all else is inhuman, but a little bit of mercy goes a long way. This is mirrored in the old law, where people would produce as best they could, but when the time came to harvest, they would leave the edges of the field to the poor, so that the final tricky 20% went to the desperate, and the rest to everyone else.

]]> By: IAmJoshBrown.com http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-14215 IAmJoshBrown.com Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:57:20 +0000 http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/?p=1683#comment-14215 [...] part one part two [...] [...] part one part two [...]

]]> By: Corey Hau http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-14004 Corey Hau Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:38:20 +0000 http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/?p=1683#comment-14004 josh, nice. josh,

nice.

]]> By: Josh http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-13996 Josh Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:08:19 +0000 http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/?p=1683#comment-13996 what if economics and spirituality are connected. what if economics and spirituality are connected.

]]> By: Derek http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/2007/01/19/reimagining-capitalism-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-13995 Derek Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:59:52 +0000 http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/?p=1683#comment-13995 "I still struggle with this idea because it is implying that there is not a cap to what a stockholder should expect from its company. In a land of extreme excess i have trouble believing that people know when to say, “enough is enough”." That's only an issue if the company generating those profits holds a monopoly. As long as competition is possible, then insane profits is a drawing factor for more providers. The problems being brought up about capitalism are really problems being brought up about spirituality, not economics. There's really little you can do about that from a regulation/control standpoint. At least, not without making things far worse. My point is, most of government's attempts at regulation and control skew the system and makes things worse - and when things get worse, few people question to what degree government is responsible. “I still struggle with this idea because it is implying that there is not a cap to what a stockholder should expect from its company. In a land of extreme excess i have trouble believing that people know when to say, “enough is enough”.”

That’s only an issue if the company generating those profits holds a monopoly. As long as competition is possible, then insane profits is a drawing factor for more providers.

The problems being brought up about capitalism are really problems being brought up about spirituality, not economics. There’s really little you can do about that from a regulation/control standpoint. At least, not without making things far worse. My point is, most of government’s attempts at regulation and control skew the system and makes things worse – and when things get worse, few people question to what degree government is responsible.

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