As I was reading Paul Krugman’s column on Myths of Austerity, I thought of some of my Republican and Libertarian friends who so passionately defend the Free Market concept as seriously as religion. It then occurred to me, it is their religion. By insertion of those words on most of our currency, to them the currency became a religious artifact. A veritable presence of The Almighty Dollar is In God We Trust. How could American Capitalism become such a religion when Christ most famous act may well have been the chasing of the money lenders from the Temple?
The answer to this analogy may originate with The Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations have person hood. In other words, corporations enjoyed the same rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as did natural persons. However, this issue is absent from the court's opinion itself. In fact, this was stated as an opinion of The Justices as why they did not want to hear arguments on taxing the railroads. So is this flawed argument of what a document says, without saying it, a possible plank in this argument?
Could this concept have originated with Ronald Reagan, the darling of the Religious Right who stated that government was not the solution to America’s problems, but the cause, have been its architect? Well, his own son said the apparently rare churchgoer did not wear his religion on his sleeve. Despite actually being a regular churchgoer and Sunday school teacher, Jimmy Carter did not seem to share this notion, or did he? An analysis of his financial policy shows he inherited a recession. He initially tried to increase government spending and cut taxes, but eventually vetoed his own programs. He reduced the money supply and investments plummeted, lifetime savings were wiped out, and we had even higher unemployment with inflation.
One could argue that’s what the aforementioned Republicans and Libertarians(Tea Party?)wants to now do. Having elected George W Bush, who went about widely deregulating the economy, then watching in horror as it began to implode upon itself; many Republicans appear to have been reborn in the belief that an invisible hand (certainly not regulation) will right the ship of economic state.
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist does not appear to accept that myth. Stating in fact that extenuating factors are the real key to economic recovery, and pulling the plug too quickly before the patient has recovered from life support, is the far greater sin, than in this case is Blind Faith.
Jesus really cared about real people and real problems. Currency is no replacement for flesh and blood and invisible myths are no solace in face of hunger and evictions.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Jimmy_Carter
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/opinion/02krugman.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/us/politics/03memo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad
-Thomas P Love
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