The Dawn Treader

The Book : : Values For Navigating Life In The Marketplace
The Author : Dr. Bruce Howard, professor of Business and Economics at Wheaton College.

The Hook : "Why is it that the same economic forces that produce good things for us like penicillin and housing are just as effective at bring us things like pornography and heroin?"

The Gist : Markets are wonderful things.  They are powerful things.  And like technology, markets are morally neutral.  They can be used for good or evil.  How can we make sure that the powerful economic forces that drive markets stay on the right track?  Is there a common moral code that we can (almost all) agree to that will act as a compass to help us enjoy the benefits of markets and avoid the abuses?  Dr. Howard argues there is and spells it out.

The Worm : Dr. Howard writes in an engaging style.  His anecdotes illustrate his points well and are wonderfully sticky (i.e. easy to retain).  A perfect example is his metaphor in describing the vulnerability of free markets.  He calls this vulnerability the "worm" at the core of the delicious apple known as free market capitalism.  The worm is that markets employ an allocation mechanism that is  based solely on imputed and relative value.  Demand curves and utility functions care nothing about transcendent values.  They are completely relativistic.  So, markets are driven by imputed value, ethics are driven by innate and transcendent values.  This tension is the wormy core and the reality that we must grapple with.

The Tension : Charting the Course is an easy read and a good reminder of what the "natural law" is when it comes to markets.  As someone who has a reformed world and life view, I live with the tension between common grace and total depravity.  In other words, can man in his fallenness truly abide by a transcendent moral code?  God has poured out his common grace on man, so I tend to think that we can agree in principle to try to follow the moral compass that is laid out in Charting The Course.  However, the realist within me recognizes that the sin nature will always pull man toward self-preservation and self-interest.  I would like to think that the principles that Dr. Howard delineates in the book would be agreed to by all, christian and non-christian, conservative and liberal, democrat and republican ... and I suspect that Howard's list would make the cut on everyone's list.  The proof in the pudding, however, is living out the principles when push comes to shove and self-interest (and profit margins) are threatened. 

The popularity of Barack Obama, coupled with the aggressive government interventionism of our current administration, is making communistic ideas more acceptable to Americans.

I have had little time to blog as you can clearly tell from my blog.  So, when in doubt, ask your readers.

I would like someone to make a Biblical, Christian argument that it is the proper God given role of the government to redistribute the wealth of its citizens.  You don't have to quote chapter and verse from the Bible.  But, please use Biblical principles in your argument.

Warning, I will delete snarky comments with no apologies.

Power.  Little restraint.

"Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s."
~ Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal ponders the future.  Are you ready?

"If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong."
~ Abraham Lincoln

For those who think slavery was abolished 145 years ago, guess again.  Slavery has grown.  There are more slaves now than ever before in human history.

If you thought America was the land of the free, and that slavery was simply a third world issue ... you'd be wrong.

WAKE UP!   Start by caring.  Then, give your time, money and attention to the movement to end slavery.

Start by seeing the rockumentary, Call and Response, this weekend (Oct 10th).  You can make a difference.