You’re in a conversation and someone says, “Capitalism is all about rewarding greed.”
What would you say?
When many people think about business people in a market economy, they think of characters in movies – like Ebenezer Scrooge, or the bankers in “Mary Poppins,” or Gordon Gekko in the movie “Wall Street.” These stereotypes reinforce the idea that business and capitalism are all about the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor. Even more than just the idea that some people are greedy, these stereotypes reinforce the idea that greed is the very essence of capitalism.
If capitalism really were all about greed, that would be a big problem for Christians who believe greed is, well, not good.
These stereotypes, however, are not reality. Capitalism is not all about greed and here are 3 reasons why:
First, taking responsibility for your own interests is not the same as selfishness.
Second, capitalism encourages altruism.
Third, capitalism can foster virtue and channel even our bad motivations into actions that benefits others.
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For more on capitalism and economics, see:
Richards, Jay W. Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and Not the Problem. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009.
Thank you to Dr. Jay Richards for serving as the consultant for this video.
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