Thank you for your comments. I appreciate the feedback and input.

A couple of things about your opening comments, and then I’ll comment a little on your article.

I don’t know about you, but I care about my children. I receive a great deal of personal satisfaction from being their father. This is only a portion of what I get in return for providing for their needs and raising them. Often people make the mistake of thinking that the only things that count in exchange are the physical and tangible things. Sometimes they extend to the visible services, but usually they only count they physical things when measuring any given exchange. For example, in this medium of a blog there is a definite exchange. I presented some ideas in a blog post. You offered your comments in exchange. I value that, so I am responding with my own comments. Both of us, I hope, are growing from the experience. I know that I always grow whenever I have an exchange with other people. Making sure that everyone you help is creating value in return does not mean that they have to give you something tangible, or render some visible service.

On your article:

I think there is a fundamental difference between how you define capitalism and how I define it. If I understand you correctly, you define capitalism as the system of economics in which the rich abuse and neglect the poor, indulge their own gratification at the expense of everyone else simply because they were lucky enough to be wealthy. Let me know if that is incorrect.

I define Capitalism as the economic system in which private property rights are honored and respected. The desire for self-improvement is recognized as the fundamental motivation in all human action and the basis of acting on faith. I don’t see Exploitation, greed, and vanity as compatible with Capitalism, though they are some of the areas in which those who strive to live by the ideals of Capitalism seem to struggle the most.

Capitalism : The New God

Trinity:

Individual Satisfaction – Father
Exploitation – Son
Purchasing power – Holy Spirit

10 Commandments

* I will make sure I maximise my profits at the cost of everything else
* Individual satisfaction must be 100% satisified even if it means I cheat on my marriage, destroy my childrens lives and end up divorced
* Exploit whoever you can for whatever you can, its survival of the fittest
* You are what you can afford
* Love thy cheap goods even if you don’t know they came from a child sweat shop
* Thou shall not worship false Gods: socialism, communism, et al
* Thou shall be faithful and not lie with another man’s wife unless our wife failed to deliver for a few days or I see someone else I want in the street round the corner, like the latest purchase from that tv store down the road I just had to have as it was 50 inches wide not 45 like the one I have already.
* Individual success and power are everything crush all enemies that stand in your way.
* Avoid giving money to charity it is rescuing and people should be responsible for their own problems even if they are not self inflicted or were originally caused by our neoliberal economic and political policies.
* Lend support to wars and support dictators if there is cheap oil or cheap access to valuable resources to be gained as our country has to be the most wealthy and powerful.

New Testament Most Important of all these Commands not love thy neighbour :

Love myself and everyone else can have the breadcrumbs that fall from my table

12 Disciples – Enablers, Message Delivery Systems, Promoters

* World Bank & IMF
* Companies that exploit developing nation producers with low and unfair prices
* Advertisements that promote materialism with irresponsible marketing messages
* Pride
* Greed
* Ego
* Vanity
* Banks that don’t support and help small businesses, yet provide huge overdraft facilities to big organisations who really do not need that support .
* Lenders who throw credit cards at people that they can’t afford to have or use
* Banks that wont lend to people who actually need the money and provide the financial support they are supposed to so these people turn to loan sharks and charge huge profitable fees for bounced Direct Debits and unauthorised overdrafts.
* Politicians with delusions of grandeur that want to control the world
* Judas Iscariot – Enlightened invididuals that try to inform people (whistleblowers)

The Evil One

Devil – Socialism and anything resembling socialist systems

Lord’s Prayer

Our Individual Satisfaction

That art all over the world
Hallowed be thy buy one get one free
Thy autumn sales come, Thy supreme shopping experience be done
On earth as it is in the stores
Forgive us for missing the winter sales and we will forgive the stores for closing on Sundays
Give this day our daily buying
Lead us into cheating, sleeping around and not looking after our children
Let us not be tempted to really care about other people
Deliver us from socialism
For thine be the kingdom, the power and the glory, for as long as we practice this awful economic concept

Amen

Note: writers note this is a criticism of capitalism in an attempt to make a few points and is no way shape or form supposed to represent the real bible and the Word of God within it.

Copyright @ Jill Barraclough 2009 Please feel free to circulate this article with the copyright notice, authors name, contact details and Note above included. Writer can be contacted @ loventruth@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or jillb@jillb.me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or website is http://www.jillb.me.

FTR – if you want to post a comment on my blog, use an actual email address so that I can contact you if I have concerns about the content.

Ammon