How are we oppressing the poor and giving to the rich?
He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth
and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
Proverbs 22:16
A simple statement that begs simple questions and demands simple answers.
1. Are you oppressing the poor to increase your wealth?
2. Are you giving gifts to the rich?
Some of our conversations about fair-trade coffee, local produce, and global economies have brought to our attention the ways in which we might be implicated in oppressive economic practices. I think that we must take these questions seriously in both our behavior as businessmen and also as consumers in our American economic system. Too many of us, myself being guiltier than most, have blindly followed our culture in deciding how to do business, what to buy, and what to care about. By not being Christians first--that is, putting the cross of Christ at the center of what we do while looking forward with hope towards the resurrected Jesus--we have compromised ourselves for the sake of security, nationalism, wealth, celebrity, etc. We must seriously question our economic practices while living in the midst of a culture blind to the suffering in the world.
As for question number 2, "Am I giving gifts to the rich?", I want to use this to question our motives for business. What is my business for? What is its purpose? Personally, I think business should exist to fill the real needs of a community. I don't think we should be creating needs, like fashion trends for example, in order to succeed at the business of selling clothes. Nor do I think we should we tell children what makes them cool and profit off of the sale of goods to them. My gifts as a human being should be used to work for the sustainability and preservation of the community I am a member of. So am I giving my gifts to the rich? This one is hard for me to deal with because much of the business I used to be a part of was appeasing already wealthy clients in order to keep business strong (hopefully every time they drink out of their PricewaterhouseCoopers coffee mug they will think to call upon that great professional advisory firm for all their business consulting needs). But more than that, what about my own gifts as a creature of God? Am I using my economic brilliance (I am of course not speaking of myself here) to put money in the pockets of already wealthy executives? Or am I using that God-given gift to subvert the system and empower the poor?
While not trying to be dogmatic about any of the proverbs we must still take them seriously and try to listen to their wisdom. The writer warns us that both of the above practices will lead to poverty. What kind of poverty? How are we to think through this as Christians in business?
and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
Proverbs 22:16
A simple statement that begs simple questions and demands simple answers.
1. Are you oppressing the poor to increase your wealth?
2. Are you giving gifts to the rich?
Some of our conversations about fair-trade coffee, local produce, and global economies have brought to our attention the ways in which we might be implicated in oppressive economic practices. I think that we must take these questions seriously in both our behavior as businessmen and also as consumers in our American economic system. Too many of us, myself being guiltier than most, have blindly followed our culture in deciding how to do business, what to buy, and what to care about. By not being Christians first--that is, putting the cross of Christ at the center of what we do while looking forward with hope towards the resurrected Jesus--we have compromised ourselves for the sake of security, nationalism, wealth, celebrity, etc. We must seriously question our economic practices while living in the midst of a culture blind to the suffering in the world.
As for question number 2, "Am I giving gifts to the rich?", I want to use this to question our motives for business. What is my business for? What is its purpose? Personally, I think business should exist to fill the real needs of a community. I don't think we should be creating needs, like fashion trends for example, in order to succeed at the business of selling clothes. Nor do I think we should we tell children what makes them cool and profit off of the sale of goods to them. My gifts as a human being should be used to work for the sustainability and preservation of the community I am a member of. So am I giving my gifts to the rich? This one is hard for me to deal with because much of the business I used to be a part of was appeasing already wealthy clients in order to keep business strong (hopefully every time they drink out of their PricewaterhouseCoopers coffee mug they will think to call upon that great professional advisory firm for all their business consulting needs). But more than that, what about my own gifts as a creature of God? Am I using my economic brilliance (I am of course not speaking of myself here) to put money in the pockets of already wealthy executives? Or am I using that God-given gift to subvert the system and empower the poor?
While not trying to be dogmatic about any of the proverbs we must still take them seriously and try to listen to their wisdom. The writer warns us that both of the above practices will lead to poverty. What kind of poverty? How are we to think through this as Christians in business?
posted by The Dude at 2:33 PM
2 Comments:
Asking the question related to function (what is business for?) is closely linked to particular views of excellence and therefore a helpful way to focus the questions at hand.
Thanks for that.
If people wanted to talk in terms of a secular "American dream," not something I'd expect here, then I would defy anyone to argue that the American dream is constituted by being able to be so wealthy that you don't have to deal with the issues of poverty because the poor can't afford to live near you.
Which is to ask: land of opportunity? Opportunity for what?
We'd be right back to the question of function/excellence, so thanks for starting things off well.
I have made much of "oppressing the poor to increase wealth" in past weeks because, honestly, those examples are easier for me to think of than "gifts to the rich." But since reading that verse and The Dude's post, several examples from the news jumped out at me (warning to political conservatives -- you may not like these):
1) Home Depot's CEO was ousted yesterday for lagging stock performance. His salary, excluding stock options, over the past 5 years as CEO = $124 million. His severance package = $210 million.
2) Federal prosecutors dropped felony charges against KPMG for selling "abusive tax shelters to affluent clients." KPMG helped their wealthiest clients avoid paying taxes and now paid a $456 million fine to avoid a criminal indictment. And the three other major accounting firms no doubt used their collective clout to lobby for KPMG's exoneration to preserve the industry.
3) Refusal to raise the federal minimum wage. Adjusted for inflation, at $5.15, it is currently at it lowest point in 50 years. Companies and Republicans argue against raising it saying it will just hurt the poor as companies are forced to eliminate many minimum wage jobs.
4) Restaurants giving free meals to celebrities. Can you imagine them giving free meals and prime tables to the poor?
5) Back-dating stock options (most prominently used as CEO compensation). This is the process by which many major companies including Apple and Home Depot strategically set the dates for stock options to pin them to a favorable price.
6) Tax breaks and royalty relief for oil companies. There is talk of repealing $4 billion of these benefits.
7) Privitization of war in Iraq. Private contractors outnumber military from any other country in Iraq besides the US. 40 cents of every dollar spent on the war goes to private companies. One of these private companies, Blackwater, allegedly skimped on expenses and, consequently, 4 employees were killed. They subsequently used political connections (CEO had personally contributed $2M to Republicans) to lobby members of Congress. Result: investigation was stopped, Blackwater hired high-ranking government officials, and one year later, Blackwater had received over $200 million in additional government contracts.
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