Originally posted by darpinian:
Big B's comments disgust me. As a student of Economics you should understand that just like anything in this world there are a few winners and a whole lot of losers. To see someone homeless and think, "get out and get a job" is selfish and shows an ultimate lack in caring for your fellow man. And then to proclaim you are in fact a christian is a further slap into the face of those who are.


Sorry that you are offended (not really). We economists are often very blunt and viewed as somewhat uncaring, though this isn't entirely true (ask me about sweatshops). However, we are almost always right. As a student of economics, I understand at its very core is the theory of "the pursuit of one's own self-interest", which is often misrepresented as selfishness.

The individuals in question, such as the homeless crack-head holding the sign, are what we economists refer to as "freeloaders". By not pursuing their own self-interest they are not contributing anything to the society as a whole. When you get a job, or produce a good, or perform a service, it is presumed that someone else benefits, thus we are both better off. Only one person benefits from receiving a handout or welfare check (and it could even be debated whether they are really benefitting). Therfore it is terribly inneficient.

Originally posted by darpinian:

I mean honestly I think if you are a christian then you must have some understanding of the bible, and if you did you wouldn't put capitalism above your god. I'm pretty sure money first isn't the key into heaven.


Ummm... sort of the whole point of the article as well as my original (self-reflecting) post. There are clearly conflicts between our capitalist society and the Christian faith. Did you read the article?

Originally posted by darpinian:

Economics doesn't just crap on the fact that poor people are a drain on society rather economics needs those so called "drains" on society for the theory to make sense...otherwise you have communism.


How so? This makes no sense.

Originally posted by darpinian:

If you have no compassion for the victims of Katrina/Rita then you aren't human. Your faith should ground you to the point where you understand that things happen that we have no control over...those things can break an individual. As a human i'm obligated to help my fellow man, regardless of religion.

~darp~
Its a sad day when business has become the new religion. Praying to bill gets you nothing


Don't get me wrong, I have compassion for those individuals who lost their homes, were without food and water, etc. However, I don't have compassion for individuals who spend their entire lives collecting handouts from the government or even Christian charities who are following Biblical teachings (which are VERY heavily abused by the poor). You may be obligated to help your fellow man in a time of need. However, I'm afraid that helping your fellow man when he could perhaps try a little harder at helping himself is doing nothing at all to help him in the long run.

Again, this was the purpose of my post, to partially agree with THE ARTICLE and indicate that many capitalist points don't quite jive with Christian beliefs.


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