Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Economic Recovery Built on Fairness, not Vengeance
In tough times, do those of us who handled our finances responsibly have a moral
obligation to bail out those of us who didn't? Are we our brother's keeper
economically?
The question is a proper way to engender moral outrage, but it is not a helpful way to approach the subject. I believe that those who have perpetuated fraud ought to be punished; those who have profited illegally should be sued to return the money. Vengeance or outrage or even the attempt to punish innocent people will, however, gain us nothing.
One cannot look at life individualistically. Human beings are far more interdependent than we allow ourselves to admit. Individualism is finally a myth, but in America with its rugged frontier ideals it is a very popular myth. We are bound together in a corporate society and our well being or lack thereof is a shared experience. If foreclosures take place in my neighborhood, my property values go down. If AIG, General Motors or Citicorp go down, the economic fall out will hurt us all. I cannot escape the consequences of others' behavior.
We need to recognize that a fair taxation system would keep the distance between rich and poor at sustainable levels, yet that has been consistently over-weighted toward the wealthy. The attempt to aid the poor has been labeled "socialism." The result is that the greed of a few has come close to destroying the capitalist system that gives hope to so many.
What this nation needs is a corporate consciousness that views taxes as the price we pay for the privilege of living in this incredible nation, that recognizes our mutual responsibility for the common environment, that is aware that corporations that seek tax advantages by moving their headquarters to mailboxes in places like Bermuda are the violators of us all. Just to express our anger at those who are caught in positions of insolvency is quite counter productive.
By
John Shelby Spong
|
March 9, 2009; 12:28 AM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: A Nation of Individuals? |
Next: Care For One Another, But No Coddling
Posted by: ViejitaDelOeste | March 7, 2009 5:27 PM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
[Sorry if this is a duplicate.]
The system that was championed by the Bush administration relied heavily on voluntary sharing. Alas! Those who have enough to be able to share most generously have not held up their end of the bargain.
When an equitable distribution of resources is dependent on the altruistic participation of the wealthy at the same time that the wealthy are lionized for wasteful consumption and the less wealthy are encouraged to make foolish bargains in their attempt to imitate that same wasteful consumption -- well, then -- something eventually has to give in.