The oil lamp – shining God's light on peak oil

In the last post we had a very brief look at the idea of jubilee. In this follow up post I am going to suggest how we might if not have something similar, at least follow the spirit of the jubilee.

As I wrote one the inescapable conclusions about the jubilee was it was an attempt to reduce inequality.   At the moment inequality is rising almost everywhere (at least in developed OECD countries).  Especially in the US and UK.  There has also been much talk of the rise of a new middle class in the “BRIC” countries recently.  An article by Paul Mason in the Guardian recently suggests that these people are not nearly as wealthy as we would think of the middle class in the developed world.

He goes on to write;

“What was unthinkable 20 years ago is now becoming tangible: that the real incomes of skilled workers, knowledge workers and managers in “developing countries” are overlapping with those at the bottom of the heap in western society.”

Another statistic being banded around last week was that the richest 85 people in the world are worth as much as the world’s 3.5 billion poorest.  The reasons for this are self evident. Off-shoring has hit manual jobs in the West and taxes have been cut for the wealthiest.

Does any of this matter?  I think it does.  There are good practical reasons to make societies more equal.  We all ultimately end up paying the price somehow through crime, bigger prisons, paying for ill health etc.  But I also think its offensive to God.  The prophets clearly saw morality as more than just “personal morality”.  See Amos 2v6 for example.  Jesus and the whole bible does appear to have a bias to the poor (Mathew 25v31-36.  Its not that the rich are less precious to God but as my minister put it recently, he knows they can look after themselves.

So what could we do to follow the spirit of the jubilee?  Looking at a graph provided in the print edition of Will Hutton’s article (link in the previous post) on the total income going the richest 1% of the population, there are some clues.  The 1970’s in the UK was when the wealth difference between the richest and poorest was at its narrowest. Incidentally its also when were at our happiest.  Here are my suggestions;

• Raise taxes on the wealthy but cut taxes for the those at the bottom of the income pile.  The UK government has done half of this, raising the point at which you start paying taxes dramatically.  However, they also cut the rate of income tax for the wealthiest.  The opposition labour party has just said they will raise the top rate of tax if elected which is causing an enormous political row here.  There is no doubt in my mind that so far the burden of reducing the post crash government deficit in the UK has fallen too much on the poorest and too little on the richest.  At the same time food and energy prices have soared, leading to a cost of living crisis.  We can see the results with burgeoning foodbanks.
• Strengthen trade unions. In the 1970’s trade unions were very powerful in all developed countries.  They got too powerful, especially in my country.  Mrs Thatcher introduced a whole heap of legislation to control them.  Just recently here some commentators have started to whisper that maybe unions are too weak.  In companies where there are strong unions there are good wages and conditions and these companies have high productivity.  No one wants to go back to the days of the 70’s with wildcap strikes but maybe the German model with union representation on boards is the way forward.  German companies are very successful, they look after their staff and who can remember the last major strike at a large German company?
• Pay not just a minimum wage, but a living wage.  Over the last 25 years median wages have not increased in real term in the UK and US.  Over the last few years the minimum wage has decreased in real terms.  The UK government is talking about raising the minimum wage way ahead of inflation.  Some of this is politics but some is to do with tax credits.  It may surprise US readers but in the UK the government subsidies Google, Amazon and a variety of other large and small companies.  They do this through tax credits for low paid employees in these companies, who can claim back tax when their income is below certain thresholds.  This is crazy.  It would be better to pay these employees better in the first place.  Then the benefits bill would fall (tax credits are counted as part of welfare).  This idea is known as the living wage, above the minimum wage it is set at a value you can actually live on.  In London many Christians have joined with other faith groups to get cleaners in the city of London paid it.  In the US McDonalds employees went on strike demanding it.  I understand McDonalds response was to print a leaflet telling employees how to survive on low pay.  A living wage fits in with the spirit of the jubilee.
• Promote full employment.  Not easy this one, especially in a static economy we will have post oil.  As we wrote in “No oil in the lamp” the Christian economist Herman (Daly) the economist is unsure about this; “Daly does not claim to have all the answers; for example he is unsure whether such an economy could support full employment (his counter argument is that he doesn’t think the current globalised one can either).  As I have blogged before many jobs will disappear post peak, but others will be created.  But governments such do everything they can to ensure the maximum number of people are usefully employed.
• Do a debt forgiveness or a one of wealth tax to pay off national debt.  That well known communist organisation the International Monetary Fund has suggested countries implement a one off tax to pay off national debt.  At the moment we have the crazy situation where much of the tax we pay is going to debt interest.  If we could get that of the government’s books we would have more money to play with.  There are three ways of doing this.  A write-off of debts in keeping with the jubilee concept.  (I would include non-governmental debts in this as well since banks like RBS are apparently struggling to collects the debts they are owed).  A one-off wealth tax or finally unconventional economics from central banks – instead of QE why not “parachute” money in pay off the debt.  If you did any of this you could increase spending or maintain it without borrowing and cut income tax for everyone.
• Reform the tax system. At the moment most developed countries tax systems are massively over complicated.  Simplifying them would not allow individuals and businesses to avoid tax so easily.  This will not be easy and take a long time.

These are just some suggestions for a new jubilee.  Part of an occasional series on new economics.

Neil

What can we learn from the biblical idea of the jubilee?  I was reminded of this over the last week by a number of things.  First, the disappearance of Mikaeel Kular in Edinburgh.  I went to help search for him.  He lived in one of the poorer parts of Edinburgh and as I approached on my bicycle my apprehension increased when I saw the traffic lights were protected by grills.  (In actual fact the estate where he lived was not as bad as I expected, with new housing).  Second, the relevant passage was covered in my SU notes and third Will Hutton’s article on rising inequality in the Observer.  Lastly, inequality is a major item on the agenda at Davos this year.  Whilst this last fact is difficult to believe as multibillionaires jet in by private helicopter – but it is.

So what can we learn as move to a post oil world from the concept of the jubilee?  In this post I will attempt to pull out some relevant points.  In the next one we will have a look at some practical issues.  Here is the relevant text from Leviticus 25.

“The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. ³ For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. ⁴ But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. ⁵ Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. ⁶ Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, ⁷ as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

The Year of Jubilee

⁸ “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. ⁹ Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. ¹⁰ Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. ¹¹ The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. ¹² For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

¹³ “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.

¹⁴ “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. ¹⁵ You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. ¹⁶ When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. ¹⁷ Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸ “‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. ¹⁹ Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. ²⁰ You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” ²¹ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. ²² While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

²³ “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. ²⁴ Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵ “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. ²⁶ If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, ²⁷ they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. ²⁸ But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.

²⁹ “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. ³⁰ If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. ³¹ But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

³² “‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. ³³ So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. ³⁴ But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.

³⁵ “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. ³⁶ Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. ³⁷ You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit. ³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹ “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. ⁴⁰ They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. ⁴² Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. ⁴³ Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.”

NIV version

The first thing to say is there is no evidence that this idea was ever put into practice.  It was just too radical and Israel fell into rebellion against God too quickly after they settled in the land.  Second, there was a clear idea of stewardship running through the whole idea (v23/24).  Israel was to remember who ultimately their land and possessions belonged to.  There was also an ecological component present (v11) in jubilee.  This was also about trust.  They had to trust God to provide in that year when they did not plant.  But whilst all these aspects above are important perhaps the most important thing about jubilee was it was designed to reduce the gap between rich and poor (v14-17, 25).  Its this idea we will explore in the next post.

Neil