Christian Economics, Mercantilist Style
Reality Check
I wrote a critique of Leftist commentator James Howard Kuntsler, who praises local government action to make it illegal to open a Walmart store or any other "big box" store, as he calls them. You can read my critique here: //www.garynorth.com/public/10717.cfm
Kunstler has coined a phrase to describe Tea Party supporters: corn-pone Nazis. If you do a search for "corn-pone Nazi" you get a slew of articles by Kunstler.
He of course responded by calling me a corn-pone Nazi. You can read his response here: http://kunstler.com/blog/2013/03/reply-to-gary-north.html
He apparently thinks he is a very clever fellow for having coined this phrase, which he uses over and over. Yet what were fascist economics and Nazi economics? A government-business "partnership," in which the state set the terms of trade. You know: just like the Good Old Boys on the zoning commission or city council set the terms of trade when they zone out Walmart or any other business. (The best book on Nazi economics is Adam Tooze's 2006 book, The Wages of Destruction.)
I got the usual batch of outraged emails from Leftie haters of capitalism. But this one caught my attention. It began with this: From: Mike C. USN Veteran mike@[WXYZ].net. It cited my statement: "When Christianity adheres to the judicial specifics of the Bible, it produces free market capitalism." He cited me accurately. I wrote that statement here: //www.garynorth.com/public/10717.cfm.
Then he went on.
Message:When Christianity adheres to the judicial specifics of the Bible, it produces free market capitalism.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus would have abhorred the likes of Walmart. I do not recall him charging anyone for turning water to wine or parting the red sea. He would have been diametrically opposed to a company whose workers need food stamps.
Walmart is a force of evil in cahoots with our mortal enemy, the chinese. If we clumg to any remnant of Christianity, we would shun them. I am sorry you are to wrapped up in Kunstlers tone and disdain for the clownish American shopping mall culture. He is RIGHT to condemn Walmart.
If you were a Patriot, you would too.
Buy American. Shun Walmart traitors. Keep main street alive. Or are you ok with them OWNING us? Because they are now moving in on our movie theatres. To hell with China, and their partners.
I would rather starve than buy from our ENEMY.
You'll see ...
The man does not understand economics. He also does not understand Christian theology. Finally, he does not understand Jesus' words.
I will now examine his statement, point by point. When you are finished reading it, I hope you will be immunized from similar state-deifying ideas that are opposed to liberty, opposed to the free market, and opposed to economic theory, and all in the name of Christian patriotism.
Jesus would have abhorred the likes of Walmart. I do not recall him charging anyone for turning water to wine or parting the red sea.
The theological point of miracles is this: they identify historic events as outside the space-time continuum. They are outside normal physical cause and effect. This is why atheists deny that miracles have ever taken place. Atheists fully understand the theology of miracles. They dismiss this as a false worldview.
But Mike C, USN Veteran, does not understand any of this. He sees Jesus as rejecting economic cause and effect, namely, TANSTAAFL: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Because Jesus performed a miracle front and center at the wedding at Cana, and he performed an even bigger one from the shadows at the Red Sea, the idea that there should be prices on scarce resources is appalling to Mike. Such an idea is not Christian.
He failed to mention the Gospel accounts of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. At the end of 40 days of fasting, the devil tempted him to have a free lunch. Turn these stones into bread, the devil suggested. Jesus responded, citing Deuteronomy 8:3: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
The devil was tempting Jesus to substitute power for productivity. Jesus was not supposed to honor the limitations of reality in satisfying His own needs. Jesus rejected this suggestion for what it was: the power religion. Jesus did not preach the power religion.
FOOD STAMPS
Mike C. Went on. "He would have been diametrically opposed to a company whose workers need food stamps."
Really? They need food stamps? Why do they need food stamps. I understand fully that they legally qualify for food stamps. So do 47 million other Americans. I fully understand that the food stamp program is the largest single subsidy that the U. S. Government offers to the gigantic agribusiness industry. I fully understand why Congress continues to make full-time workers eligible for food stamps. But I do not understand why Jesus would have made eligibility for food stamps a criterion for corporate ethics.
I know what Jesus said about the principle of food stamps. He replied to crowds of Jews who followed Him.
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed (John 6:26-27).
He recognized why He was popular. These people wanted handouts. They were committed to miracles as a substitute for work. They wanted manna from heaven. He reminded them of what His ministry was about. It was not the creation of a welfare state. Rome had that: bread and circuses. Jesus' ministry was a challenge to the theology of bread and circuses.
Mike C. believes that Walmart owes its workers more money. Why does Walmart owe them more? These people accept the arrangement. Walmart makes an offer, and they accept it.
Across the nation, there are would-be Walmart employees filling out job application forms. If Walmart raises the wages of existing employees, the lines of job applicants will get longer. Walmart will have to turn away more workers. What is the point?
Customers buy at Walmart because they like low prices. Customers pressure Walmart to cut costs. Walmart is acting as the economic agent of customers.
The critics of Walmart despise Walmart's customers. Walmart's customers pursue their economic self-interest by shopping where prices are low. Walmart's critics are enraged at this. They take out their rage on Walmart. "It's not fair to the Good Old Boys, who cannot compete. This should be stopped!"
Here is what economic theory concludes: Walmart is competing against Target and Dollar General and K-Mart and Penney's. It is not competing against its employees.
Here is is what economic theory also concludes: Walmart's employees are competing against all those people who have filled out job application forms, as well as all those others who will fill them out if Walmart raises salaries.
Out of this competition process comes voluntary agreements: wages, hours, and fringe benefits, if any.
This is how the free market works: employers compete against employers; employees compete against other employees and would-be employees. This is easy to understand, but Mike C. no more understands this than Kunstler does.
Mike C. does not understand Jesus' parable of the rich man who hired men in the morning, then at noon, and then in afternoon. They agreed to work at a specific wage. But then he gave the same money to those who were hired late in the day, the all-day workers grumbled. The rich man had a valid response.
But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen (Matthew 20:13-16).
Mike C. is among those outraged critics who do not think workers and employers have a legal right to come to an agreement over the terms of employment. He stands with Kuntsler and denigrates Walmart for doing what it wants with its own assets.
His eye is evil. So is his economic theory.
THE EVIL CHINESE
Mike continues:
Walmart is a force of evil in cahoots with our mortal enemy, the chinese. If we clumg to any remnant of Christianity, we would shun them. I am sorry you are to wrapped up in Kunstlers tone and disdain for the clownish American shopping mall culture. He is RIGHT to condemn Walmart.
Let me clarify his position: "We gotta smash them Commie Chinks."
The Chinese masses are for the first time in their history emerging from massive poverty. They are seeking employment in cities. A major employment sector is the export sector. These workers are voluntarily working to serve the demands of customers all over the world. They produce high quality goods, medium quality goods, and low quality goods.
People who shop at Walmart and any other company that imports goods from China are validating the decision of Chinese employers who hired Chinese workers. They are validating the Chinese workers' decisions to seek employment. They are validating American firms that offer such goods for sale at low prices. They are, in short, validating Walmart's unique selling proposition. Save Money. Live Better. This has been the central slogan of free market capitalism for 500 years. It has been a good slogan, both morally and operationally.
This slogan is despised by the Good Old Boys who use the state to rig markets in their favor, and against all those Chinese workers and American customers who want to make a deal.
James K. and Mike C. side with the Good Old Boys against the Chinese workers, Chinese employers, Chinese export firms, Walmart, and Walmart's customers. The two of them would smash all those workers in India, too, if they got the opportunity. Also Target. "Smash them! Smash them! Those are self-interested, culture-destroying, lower-class people. They are undermining the people who speak for America's best interests, the Good Old Boys, who specialize in high-cost goods of quality, or anyway high-cost goods."
But Mike C. is not content to cry out against price competition. He tells me that Kunstler understands the threat of imports. Furthermore, "If you were a Patriot, you would too."
Mike wears a strange wardrobe. He dons the humble cloak of a follower of Jesus, trudging the sands of Palestine two millennia ago. Then he puts an American flag over his shoulder.
Kunstler called me a "corn-pone Nazi." Mike is content to label me unpatriotic. That's the difference between a Leftie and a Jerk for Jesus. Lefties always invoke "fascist" or "Nazi" as their preferred terms of derision. Jerks for Jesus invoke "unpatriotic."
Buy American. Shun Walmart traitors. Keep main street alive. Or are you ok with them OWNING us? Because they are now moving in on our movie theatres. To hell with China, and their partners."
He ended with this: " I would rather starve than buy from our ENEMY."
Why, it's mercantilism's Patrick Henry. "Give me sales taxes on imported goods, or give me death!"
Just for the record, what percentage of Americans' personal consumption expenditures in 2010 were imports from China?
Go on. Guess.
It was under 3%. As best as economists can estimate, it was 2.7%.
With 97.3% of America's personal consumption goods not coming from exports from China, Mike C. will not have to die of starvation.
For my analysis of "Buy American," go here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north238.html.
CONCLUSION
Do I think that Mike C. is an economic ignoramus? Yes. Do I think he is a theological ignoramus? Yes. Do I think he represents millions of patriotic Americans? Yes. Do I hope the Tea Party avoids all traces of his thinking? Yes.
He is a Christian mercantilist. He is opposed to Adam Smith, free trade, and economic voluntarism. He does not understand free market competition. He wants the state to regulate the terms of trade. He should start here: //www.garynorth.com/public/department162.cfm.
So should Kunstler. But Kuntsler is a Left-winger. The Left always wants to strengthen the state's control over the economy. He is merely being consistent. The religion of the Left is faith in badges and guns. It is this: "Boy, I am here to protect you from yourself. Your pursuit of your own self-interest is dangerous to me and my friends. If you knew better, you would make better decisions. But you don't know better. My friends and I know better. We know what's good for you. I have this badge. I have this gun. It's pointed at your belly. I'm not going to let you make a bad decision. If you know what's good for you, you will do what I say. Got it, boy?" He hates economic liberty, as do his Left-wing peers.
My concern here is people who call themselves Christian patriots, who hold Kunstler's view of the state and economics.
General rule: If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.