Old Time Radio at OTRCat!

Monday, August 29, 2011


Economics is known as The Dismal Science, and listening to economists talk proves why. Between the bowties and the Econ-speak, it's enough to make you saw your own head off.

Now, your Aardvark is a free-marketeer, and is a laissez-faire 'Vark therefore, but he also knows the limits thereof. Behold the kite: is there a freer aerial toy than that, swooping and soaring in the breeze? (This 'Vark prefers the box variety, himself.)

What does not come to mind at first glance is that the string may be the most important part of the kite. Without that tether to the ground, the kite becomes a bit of aerial flotsam, spinning and flopping through the air along with the escaped Wal-Mart bags, ultimately crashing uselessly to the ground. It is the limiting factor of the string that enables the kite to fly effectively.

So it is with the economy, and especially to my thinking, Wall Street. "GREED" is the word used most effectively by the Leftist, progressive crowd as they point quivering fingers, clawlike, while demanding of Congress that Something Must Be Done. Well, something HAS been done, millenia ago. A quick perusal of the Mosaic Law and the book of Proverbs will unearth a treasure of ethical guidelines for money and commerce. Just weights and measures, treating the rich and poor alike, not "adjusting" prices depending on who you are dealing with. Such simple ethical practices would go far toward fixing the Wall Street mess, but it will require personal decisions on the Street's denizens. Perhaps there is a fertile field for evangelism in the realm of commerce.

George Washington made his thoughts clear on the matter of governance:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports...It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government.


I would certainly extend this to the realms of commerce. "Religion and Morality" (how quaint!) provide the string to make the kite soar. The Madoffs, and the cartoony stock traders are all brought to heel by the tether of ethics and morality, but that tether brings the freedom to true success. Wall Street is currently governed by avarice. Perhaps if we believers can shed our own animosities and caricatures, we can share the faith once delivered to those with the knowledge and ability to do economics right. "Make disciples of the nations" said our Founder. Wall Street needs the discipline of the Gospel.


6 comments:

MacLaren said...

Ayn Rand wept.

The Aardvark said...

I will go so far as to say that it was the Hays Office that enabled Whollyodd to produce such gems as "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane". By establishing limits as to what could be put onscreen, they forced the moviemakers to be creative. Instead of going with the easy "Oh! Let's put 'em in bed!" they had to write and film artful stories.

TheWayfarer said...

Close, but no cigar.
The economy is tanking, but Wall Sereet is a bit-player in it: Government bribes; handouts of fiat paper everywhere, and that largely to reward failure and slothfulness are why I look forward to another quarter of "unexpectedly" abysmal numbers...
When you pay people to do nothing, or to perform poorly, that's what you get - go figure!

The Aardvark said...

Wrong-o Mary-Lou! I have PLENTY of cigars.

That I am talking about Wall Street makes what I am saying cogent about Wall Street. I am talking apples, you are talking ten-penny nails.

However, since you bring up the Give-mint...

I would say precisely the same.

If you want a good economy, you do not base it upon government robbery and redistributivism. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. That exaltation is not merely feel-good, but practical in the realm of doing well, of prospering as a nation.

We may wring our hands and yell at the radio about how dreadful it all is, but we must do righteousness in our individual lives, and demand it of those who would serve us. Not lead or rule...serve. That, too, is a message to send loudly and pellucidly.

TheWayfarer said...

Ah, my eyes are open: Without self-discipline, there can be no self-government. Thanks!

The Aardvark said...

Sokath, his eyes opened!

I have been unable to find the Founder's quotation that our republic will only work for the (Christian) religious. I suspect it is John Adams.

Only the governable (and the self-governed) may be governed.

And locks keep an honest man out.