What Is the Moral Foundation Of Your Economic Beliefs?

Real Clear Markets ^ | 8/24/2009 | Bill Frezza

[SeekAndFind]

What is the moral foundation of your economic beliefs? Do economic beliefs even require a moral foundation?

Do you find it natural to accept the varied religious beliefs of others even if they contradict your own? On the other hand, are you often at odds with people who espouse different economic beliefs and policies? Why, especially if the former forms the foundation for the latter?

Would you ever use the ballot box to force others to practice your religion or make them pay to build you a church? Why do you find it easy to do this with your economic beliefs, compelling others to foot the bill for the public policies you promote?

Do you believe that wealth is prima facie evidence of thievery? Of privilege? Do you think wealth can only be created off the backs of the poor? Is there a fixed amount of wealth in the world for all to share? If so, where did it come from and how has mankind been getting richer for the past 200 years? And if the poor wish to escape exploitation by the rich, why do they keep sneaking in to our country rather than out?

Do you admire highly paid sports figures yet disdain highly compensated business executives? Why? Does it matter whether the shareholders in the companies that employ these executives feel they are getting their money's worth? And if you're not a shareholder, what makes this issue your concern?

Is poverty an absolute indicator of worthiness? Do you believe the poor bear any responsibility for changing their condition? If not, whose responsibility is it and why? Should the poor be held accountable if they don't make efforts to help themselves? Who should hold them accountable and how?

If a poor person becomes rich through hard work then resists handing his money over for the benefit of the poor, is he a traitor to his class? Should he be treated differently than someone who inherits great wealth? How about someone who wins the lottery? Why?

Does every poor person have a moral claim on every rich person regardless of how they got rich or poor? Where does this claim come from? Are claims limited to people living in the same country or do they extend to all humanity? Why? Is it the job of government to mediate these claims? If you believe highly progressive taxation and expansive government entitlements are necessary to reduce economic inequality, does it matter to you if the attendant incentives and disincentives reduce the total amount of wealth available to be shared? Is making all people equally poor an acceptable solution to inequality?

Are you careful not to judge people by the color of their skin yet sometimes quick to make judgments based on economic status? If so, do you make distinctions based solely on wealth or lack thereof or does it make a difference to you how an individual became rich or poor?

Would you steal money from your own children? Would you steal money from other people's children? What makes it socially acceptable to let Congress do this for you?

Do you contribute to charity? Would you gang up with your neighbors and force others to contribute to your charities? What makes it OK to hire Congress to do this for you?

Do you believe in a right to privacy? Should citizens accused of a crime be considered innocent until proven guilty, with the burden of proof falling on the prosecution? Do you believe the accused have a right to remain silent? How would you feel if the government compelled a vast network of informers to file reports on the behavior of citizens whether or not they've been accused of a crime? OK then, what is the moral principle that allows you to make exceptions to these beliefs when it comes to a person's income and investments?

When you see corruption between business and politicians, are you inclined to shrug and accept it as the nature of man? If corruption touches your own business are you impelled to speak out, do you tolerate it in silence while sticking to your principles, or do you seek your share of the spoils because everyone else is doing it?

Do you resent being asked to justify your economic beliefs or the moral foundation they rest on? Do your ends always justify your means? Do you feel entitled to having your beliefs respected solely because they are yours? Would you feel the same way about your mathematical beliefs?

Are you comfortable holding contradictory beliefs? When was the last time you questioned them? What do you do when you discover you hold two beliefs that contradict each other?

Are you happy to see the state to which we've fallen - pressure group pitted against pressure group, old against young, citizen against citizen all fighting to grab a share of the swelling portion of our national income funneled through the hands of Congress? What other outcome would you expect when moral foundations crumble?

-- Bill Frezza is a partner at Adams Capital Management, an early-stage venture capital firm. He can be reached at bill@vereverus.com. If you would like to subscribe to his weekly column, drop a note to publisher@vereverus.com.

[Alex Murphy]

Great thread. Ping to read & participate later

[loveliberty2]

The writer raises great questions. Thoughtful, objective, rational exploration of answers to his questions can contribute to the current debate.

This is the kind of self-examination that American citizens need to be doing in order to put into proper perspective the attack on individual liberty currently being waged against them.

For over two hundred years, people have fled all the countries in the world to come to America, where, by a written Constitution, the Founders limited the coercive power of those elected and appointed to serve the people--all for the sake of freedom and liberty!

Now, we see an open attack on that Constitution's limitations on government's coercive powers.

Star Parker's column today places a focus on the idea of freedom (liberty). That was the focus of America's Founders, and their focus and actions brought more freedom and opportunity to more people than has occurred in the history of civilization.

"Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one."- James Madison

"The foundation of every government is some principle or passion in the minds of the people."- John Adams

Explore the writer's questions, and decide for individual liberty!

[Uncle Miltie]

“Thou shalt not steal”

[Kickass Conservative]

Nobody owes you a living.

Per my Father when I was a whiny 13 year old. It has served me well my entire life, and I am 56 now.

[mjp]

What is the moral foundation of your economic beliefs?

the moral foundation of capitalism are God given individual inalienable rights

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

A fine article.

[EternalVigilance]

Did Bill stumble across a fire sale on question marks?

Good piece, though. :-)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Is economics about "beliefs"?
Facts are better.
If you raise taxes, people have less money and they spend less.
They also have less to save or invest or to pay their children's tuition. Fact.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Do economic beliefs even require a moral foundation?,/i.

So long as there is someone willing to pay, there will always be someone willing to collect...

In short, the answer is no. ("Drag a $100.00 bill through a trailer park...")

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Do economic beliefs even require a moral foundation?

So long as there is someone willing to pay, there will always be someone willing to collect...

In short, the answer is no. ("Drag a $100.00 bill through a trailer park...")

(HTML revised)

[Reeses]

If you raise taxes, people have less money and they spend less.

Leftists not only know this, that is the whole point. Their ultimate objective is to get you sitting quietly in a dark room hypnotized watching them on TV, moving very little yourself and talking to no one. Unless you are willing to bow down and worship them, they wish that you did not exist.

[LonePalm]

My moral philosophy of economics is summed up nicely in Francisco's Money Speech.

I choose dollars.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Some Americans have a tendency to talk about disputed issues as "beliefs" as a way of avoiding admitting that facts like this are involved. It's similar to liberals talking about the idea that an unborn child is a human being as a mere "belief." This subjectivism is very corrupting. It is always a fact that raising taxes hurts spending, saving, investing, and people's capacity to pay for things like college tuition. Tax people too high and they can't afford to buy new cars or go on vacation which hurts businesses which means less jobs, less savings, less spending, etc. Many of the central issues of economics relate to these facts, not beliefs.

Likewise, liberals talk about conservatives' "beliefs" about limited government and low taxation. Again, not just "beliefs." The Constitution authorizes limited government as a fact. And originally, of course, we did not have an income tax. The country was MUCH BETTER off when people kept most of the money they earned, when they grew much of their food from family farms, when schools were not primarily used for PC social engineering, etc. If we are going to tax income, the only income that should be taxed at all is that beyond what people pay out for living expenses, housing, property tax, food, clothing, and college tuition for children. No one should be paying out more than 40%-60% of what they earn, forcing both spouses to work just to keep a roof over their heads. This madness should end for the sake of the country and the American family. But when will a candidate start talking common sense on taxes?