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Letter: Easter economics

Easter economics

This Easter, why not dust off our Christian values and talk about the money, not the bunny? Pope Francis is certainly having his way with the root of all evil, calling it “the devil’s dung” and saying things like, “We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market.” He calls unfettered capitalism “a new tyranny” and decries an economic system that “seems fatally destined to suffocate hope,” turning man into a slave.

Will someone tell Jesus this is not a safe time for a return engagement? I mean, what would he think about this historic wealth divide, with the meek and powerless being forced to work harder and harder for less and less while the fruits of their labor are handed to the “ownership class” 1,000 miles away — who do none of the work?



Can you imagine him not heading straight for New York to occupy the hell out of Wall Street, barging through the doors of Goldman Sachs and overturning the tables of inequity so deviously rigged by the money-changers? Oh yes, this longhaired, Middle Eastern revolutionary would be on a plane to Guantanamo so fast, tied to a plank and taunted as the torture began, “So, can you walk on water — boards, too?”

Remember, our current system is designed to perpetuate inequality along with the foolhardy notion of infinite growth, consumption and waste, turning God’s green earth into Uncle Sam’s landfill. We have the technical capabilities — right now! — to move from this monetary-market system into a resource-based economy that puts people before profits. Let us pray. Then hop to it.




That reminds me: This week, Wal-Mart (the Walton family is worth $140 billion, with many of its employees on food stamps) is having a sale on chocolate Easter Bunnies.

Steve Saylor

Carbondale