Christian Economics

The Integration of Capitalism, Socialism and Laborism

By Published On: September 24, 20240 Comments on Christian Economics

How is the Christian mandate to love your neighbor as yourself to be applied in business, economics, and politics? In what way does God want people to act within their jobs, their businesses, and their business transactions; treat tenants, other businesses, subordinates, and their employees; market their products and services and set prices; monitor the quality and safety of their products and services, and so on?

Christian Economics promotes justice, fairness, balance, cooperation, and mutual respect within business, economics, and politics, and is based on three principles: good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself; and treat each and every human being with absolute dignity. Every business strategy, every business policy, and every business transaction needs to be based on these three principles.

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Dale Anthony Pivarunas has four degrees in mathematics, theology, business administration, and operations research.

Dale is one of the 225 million Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck or are unemployed or are underemployed or are in poverty or who do not have health insurance or who have extreme debt. In spite of having four degrees, he has experienced four layoffs in his career with the accompanying periods of unemployment; he has worked two jobs at a time to support his family; his home has been foreclosed twice; he has had to take out personal loans with interest rates at twenty-eight percent; his current home lost twenty-five percent of its value since 2004; he has virtually no equity in my home; he has approximately $65,000 in student debt for his childrens’ college educations. Like the others in his group, he has been led to believe that if he worked hard to get a good education, he could achieve the American dream – but we were deceived.He has spent the last ten years, studying, reflecting, and researching the topics covered in this book – all part-time while struggling financially to make ends meet and to provide for his daughters.

Questions to and Answers from the Author:

1.       Is it possible to integrate capitalism, socialism, and laborism, and why do Christian principles require that the ideal economic system integrate these seemingly antagonistic systems?

First, the apparent antagonism between capitalism, socialism, and laborism arises from the proponents of each of these systems, who promote an extreme form of their system that excludes any other system.  From a micro-economic point of view, each individual seeks to satisfy his or her needs and desires for food, clothing, shelter, security, healthcare, education, transportation, recreation, disability care and old-age care through work and investment.  From a macro-economic point of view, a society of millions of people, each of which is seeking to satisfy his or her needs and desires for food, clothing, shelter, security, healthcare, education, transportation, recreation, disability care and old-age care through work and investment, needs to collaborate to mutually pursue those goals within the context of a finite economy.  Since the total aggregation of wealth, resources, and goods is finite and millions of individuals seek to obtain their share by natural right, the most appropriate economic system must provide an equitable (not equal) balance of wealth, resources, and goods, eliminating the excesses of too much and too little for individuals.  The integration of capitalism, socialism, and laborism into a system that eliminates the excesses of each can and will maximize economic value and wealth for virtually all people – and this is Christian Economics, which is based on the principles of Jesus Christ.

2.       How long did it take you to write this book?

I have spent over ten years studying, reflecting, and researching the topics covered in this book – all part-time while struggling financially to make ends meet and to provide for my three daughters.  I am one of the 225 million Americans who live from paycheck to paycheck or are unemployed or are under-employed or are in poverty or who do not have health insurance or who have extreme debt.  In spite of having four degrees: a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, a bachelor’s degree in Theology, a master’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Operations Research; I have experienced four layoffs in my career with the accompanying periods of unemployment; I have worked two jobs at a time to support my family; my home has been foreclosed twice; I have had to take out personal loans with interest rates at twenty-eight percent; my current home lost twenty-five percent of its value since 2004; I have virtually no equity in my home; I have approximately $65,000 in student debt for my childrens’ college educations. Like the others in my group, we have been led to believe that if we work hard or get a good education, we can achieve the American dream – but we were deceived.  My situation and sympathy for the other 225 million Americans in similar and for many far worse situations has been the inspiration for this book.

3.       There are other books that address the topic of Christian economics; how is your book different?

Virtually all other books that address the topic of Christian economics attempt to justify capitalism by referencing passages from the Old Testament of the Bible as well as specific statements from the writings of Paul.  The writings of the Bible, called the Old Testament, are not Christian, but rather Jewish writings.  Obviously, many writers after the time of Jesus Christ have tried to link certain writings of the Old Testament with the life of Jesus, but the writings of the Old Testament are not based on Christian teachings, that is, the teachings of Jesus Christ and in many cases are opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, most writers have chosen to develop their own view of Christianity not based on the teachings of Jesus Christ but rather their attempt to develop a theology derived in part from the Old Testament and their view of God, the world, life and morality.  The teachings of Jesus Christ (and therefore the basis for Christianity) expressed in His words and actions are summed up in three principles: good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself and the absolute dignity of each and every human being.  My book uses these three principles to evaluate and define all aspects of micro and macroeconomics.  Any attempt to define and describe Christian economics must be based on these three principles.  Any attempt to equate capitalism and Christian economics, where capitalism excludes socialism and laborism and is based on the claim that business is outside the realm of morality as stated, ‘it is neither right nor wrong, it is just business’ is absolutely wrong and just an attempt to justify the excesses of capitalism.

4.       In your book, you state that the vast majority of Christians have totally disconnected their business and economic lives from the three basic and essential principles of Christianity: good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself and the absolute dignity of each and every human being, is that intentional on their part or unintentional?

Unfortunately, most Christians are not critical thinkers but rather blind followers.  They have been and are led by so-called Christian leaders who have aligned themselves with the economic elite.  Many Christian leaders have espoused the false principles of prosperity Christianity, which are totally aligned with radical capitalism, a form of capitalism that abhors socialism and laborism and seeks to transfer virtually all wealth to the exceptional class, the already wealthy one percent.  The vast majority of Christians do not comprehend the inconsistencies of current business and economic practices with the Christian principles of “good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself and the absolute dignity of each and every human being” and blindly follow their leaders who have been blinded by their own personal pride and greed.

5.       Why is your book of critical importance?

In 2016, Oxfam International stated that 80 individuals had as much wealth as the lowest 50 percent of the world’s population, 3.6 billion people.  And this wealth disparity continues to grow.  Oxfam has stated that the richest one percent received 82 percent of all wealth created in 2017, while the lowest 50 percent saw virtually no increase in wealth.  And in 2018, Oxfam stated that now 42 individuals own as much wealth as the economically lowest 3.7 billion people.  The world economy is finite.  If the top one percent keeps taking more and more, that means that there is less and less for the 99 percent.  Greed is at the base of this continuing economic disparity.  Greed that has no concern or compassion for others, literally billions of others, some of which live in extreme poverty.  This is a moral crisis.  These trends and the underlying causes for this continuing disparity where the rich get richer, depriving billions of others of even the most basic standard of living, must be stopped.  The US economy is in crisis, and the world economy is in crisis. These crises are getting worse because business and economics are devoid of Christian principles.  The solution is for Christians to start applying Christian economics to their business lives, their economic lives, and their political lives.  This is the mandate of Jesus Christ: to love your neighbor as yourself in your business life, your economic life, and your political life.  My book, Christian Economics – The Integration of Capitalism, Socialism and Laborism, explains Christian economics and is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: “good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself and the absolute dignity of each and every human being”.

6.       Who did you write this book for, that is, who should read your book?

I have written this book for common, ordinary people – the majority of people, not the rich and powerful people who constitute a very small minority of the people. The natural rights of the common people as partners in the economies to which they belong and co-own have been ignored and denied. Because of this, they have been exploited and cheated out of their fair share of the benefits of these economies. The production and consumption by the common people are the driving forces of the economy, yet their share of the benefits from the economy is disproportionate to their contribution. That is unjust and needs to change.  This book is for the unemployed, the underemployed, those making minimum wage, those living in poverty, those who are having or have had their homes repossessed, those who are slaves to payday loans or title loans, students who have invested in a college education and have not found work that corresponds to their skills, women who do the same work as men but get paid less, those living from paycheck to paycheck, those who cannot afford to get needed medical care, and the tens of millions of people who have lost hope of ever achieving the American dream.

 

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