{"id":939,"date":"2012-10-18T11:07:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T10:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939"},"modified":"2013-07-18T17:14:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T16:14:23","slug":"new-economic-paradigm-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939","title":{"rendered":"New economic paradigm wanted!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a follow up to the last post on economics I’ve put the conclusion<\/strong><\/em> to the economics chapter below from our book<\/a>-so warning book spoiler alert<\/strong>.\u00a0 Someone I know who is reading the book criticised part of this bit below.\u00a0 I’m actually not giving my personal views (I wrote almost all this chapter) on what kind of economic system should replace the one we have got, but I am trying to draw out a few principles from the bible.\u00a0 The problem is that none of the different systems from Marxism through all the different shades of capitalism assume anything other than endless resources.\u00a0 Clearly we are going to end with something different.\u00a0 I’m going to try to get some guest blogs on this issue one from a right wing perspective and one from a left wing perspective, after all in a democracy both the left and right will have to govern after oil.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clearly the dominant economic model has produced huge benefits for much of mankind.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet its problems, and in particular its inability to value creation and its resources in a way that is sustainable, fundamentally undermine the progress it has produced.\u00a0 But what\u2019s the alternative?\u00a0 Green economics has some strengths, in that it starts to take the environment into account, but also has obvious shortcomings in that it still seems to assume that there are limitless resources and therefore that conventional growth is possible.<\/p>\n

Christians view economics essentially depending on their political viewpoint.\u00a0 The bible (especially in the New Testament), says little about how an economic system should operate.\u00a0 One approach is found in the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 In this passage, the prophet Isaiah instructs on true and false worship.\u00a0 True worship is seen in the following manner:<\/p>\n

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
\nto break the chains of injustice,
\nget rid of exploitation in the workplace,
\nfree the oppressed,
\ncancel debts.
\nWhat I’m interested in seeing you do is:
\nsharing your food with the hungry,
\ninviting the homeless poor into your homes,
\nputting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
\nbeing available to your own families.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isaiah 58v6-7, The Message Bible<\/p>\n

These and other verses in this chapter suggest that charity is required, but also the need to break structural economic sin.\u00a0 In the various ideas we discussed above, we saw some people are starting to feel around for an alternative economics.\u00a0 For free marketers reading this book there is both good news and bad news.\u00a0 The good news is that all the people we quoted above see a role for markets.\u00a0 No one wants Marxism or centrally planned economies (which were mostly not good for the environment too).\u00a0 The bad news is that they want a lot more government intervention, control of markets, localisation (with trade mostly within countries), rationing and or taxation of non-renewable resources, and redistribution of wealth.\u00a0 They consider this last point important not only because countries with better equality of wealth are happier places, with lower crime and better health outcomes, but also because the current economic system works on the basis of envy1.\u00a0 (As we discuss later, reducing materialism may be more difficult than we think, even with less material goods.)\u00a0 They all want new ways of measuring progress beyond GDP, measures which take into account happiness or ecological constraints.\u00a0 We think these general characteristics of a new economy fit with Isaiah\u2019s challenge, and are points that Christians should support.\u00a0 Isaiah goes on to say that building a more just society will make us fully human again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
\nyour shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
\nI will always show you where to go.
\nI’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places\u2014
\nfirm muscles, strong bones.
\nYou’ll be like a well-watered garden,
\na gurgling spring that never runs dry.
\nYou’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
\nrebuild the foundations from out of your past.
\nYou’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
\nrestore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
\nmake the community liveable again.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Isaiah 58 v 10-12, The Message<\/p>\n

An alternative economic system is inevitable.\u00a0 Precisely what kind it will be we cannot say.\u00a0 The current system is like a merry go round going faster and faster, which no one wants to jump off first.\u00a0 The problem is the longer we delay the bigger the fall will be.\u00a0 We should start discussing and planning this new economy now rather than when it is forced upon us by events.\u00a0 Christians, though they may have differing views on economics, should be at the centre of this debate.\u00a0 Our value system should challenge that of the world as we seek God\u2019s kingdom first.\u00a0 We will leave the last word on this issue to Dr. Fleming, with a telling comment on one part of the solution: “Localisation stands, at best, at the limits of practical possibility, but it has the decisive argument in its favour that there will be no alternative”.<\/p>\n

Neil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a follow up to the last post on economics I’ve put the conclusion to the economics chapter below from our book-so warning book spoiler alert.\u00a0 Someone I know who is reading the book criticised part of this bit below.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics"],"yoast_head":"\nNew economic paradigm wanted!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a follow up to the last post on economics I've put the conclusion to the economics chapter below from our book-so warning book spoiler alert.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939\",\"name\":\"New economic paradigm wanted!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-18T10:07:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-18T16:14:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/b6f2831189b0d01294e9672bb540ba6f\"},\"description\":\"As a follow up to the last post on economics I've put the conclusion to the economics chapter below from our book-so warning book spoiler alert.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=939#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New economic paradigm wanted!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The oil lamp - 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