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NewsDay

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Economy needs to be guided by conscience

Opinion & Analysis
Economists and social scientists have analysed our economic malaise quite thoroughly.

Economists and social scientists have analysed our economic malaise quite thoroughly.

Fr Oskar Wermter SJ

They show that blaming “sanctions” does not explain anything. “Looting” is reaching the end of the road. Only productivity creates real wealth.

But this is only at the surface. The real crisis goes deeper. It is so profound that arguments from “supply and demand”, “currencies and exchange rates” do not  really get to the roots of our economic failure.

The real disease is moral corruption. Liars, frauds, crooks and thieves are in control in so many areas, the country has tipped over: there is more corruption than integrity, more falsehood than truth. People are told so many lies, they stop believing anything.

The basic trust people must have in their institutions is disappearing.

People put their money in the bank because they trust they can get it back any time they need it. If  the banks  cannot or will not return it, banking is finished. Business is based on trust. Once this trust is eroded banks stand empty and the money becomes worthless.

Since the decision-makers themselves believe their own false propaganda, their decisions are necessarily false. If you believe that “sanctions” have destroyed our currency, you will fight “sanctions” and miss the real cause which was spending money that did not exist (printing money without productivity to back it up). A doctor who makes a wrong diagnosis will necessarily prescribe the wrong medicine.

If you walk in the darkness created by constantly telling lies and having lies told to you, you lose touch with reality. You are driven by imagined fears (“recolonisation by the Brits”) and (mis) guided by your own false reasoning (“taking from the haves will enrich the have-nots” – in fact, it leaves everyone  poor, even the “looters” on the day of reckoning).

We must once more respect the truth and value integrity and honesty. These are not marketable values, they have no price on the share index, you cannot trade them on the money market. And yet without them trade and commerce, business and industry collapse.

That is why we need free media that can conduct an unfettered debate about fair trade and expose corrupt practices, free and independent media that expose the lies of the high and mighty and shame the crooks and thieves.

That is why we need an independent judiciary  and judges of integrity that have not been bought by their “employers” among politicians and government officials.

That is why we need men and women with a conscience who can tell the difference between right and wrong, between light and darkness, who strive to walk in the light of truth and shun the darkness of lies and deceit.

That is why we need leaders who prefer to work hard and  live modestly rather than greedily enrich themselves with wealth they have not produced themselves, who feel shame  if their excessively high income  deprives poor children  of schooling, who do not want to live in mansions while the homeless have their shacks demolished.

The world was given to all of us and its treasures must be shared in solidarity. Greed is the enemy and must be controlled  as old Hebrew wisdom puts it:

“Put falsehood and lying far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Provide me only with the food I need; Lest, being full, I deny you, Saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or being in want, I steal, And profane the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30: 8)

There is a paradox here; for the visible, tangible material world to flourish, grow and be productive we need to respect spiritual and moral values which are invisible.

Respect the great gift of language and of words, do not distort them. Use them to express what is true, not to use them for false propaganda and for deception and fraud: we need “wordsmiths” who  have a passion for the truth – some journalists the world over lose even their lives in their passion to find out the truth and expose falsehood.

We need leaders prepared to listen and hear the truth from their fellow citizens; we need entrepreneurs who use capital for creating wealth for the people as a whole, knowing full well that they will have to give an account at the end about how they have shared the treasures of this beautiful country with  all its citizens.  Such a spirit of solidarity is the best protection against greed  and  grabbing what is not ours.

You drive safely only by respecting the rules of the Highway Code. You arrive safely at the end of life’s journey only if you respect some basic rules the Creator has put into your heart and your conscience, like: Respect this earth and all its treasurers, share it with your companions on the journey (“You must not steal”),  or: Walk in the light of truth, face up to the reality of this world, and  use your reason to make the correct decisions for the benefit of all (“Do not give false witness”).