Sanctification of the profit motive.

Those of us who rent tools expect to pay for the privilege. We figure that in the long run we are better off renting some tools because it is cheaper to rent tools for infrequent use than to buy them. In turn, we expect the rental fee to cover the use of a building, the salary and insurance of those who work there, the repair and eventual replacement of the tools and some left over as profit. It is the aggregate of profit earned by each business that provides for the rise in living standards, for investment and also for taxes. Why? Because it is the profits on businesses that provide for new investments in production and services.

The ultimate tool is money. Money can rent any tool and those who rent money are also entitled to a profit.

Under Marxist economics, profit is deemphasized and living standards are low. If we look at the earnings of citizens in Cuba, N Vietnam, or the formerly Communist countries, we are astounded at their low living standards. One Russian worker put it this way: “they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work for them.” And Marxist economics behind the Iron Curtain produced shortages, so that even toilet paper became an item in short supply. The inherent inefficiency of Marxist economics became clear even to the Communists.

As Jesus was reaching Jerusalem on His way to the Cross, he told two parables that sanctified profits: the parable of the Talents and the parable of the Minas. //Those of you not familiar with ancient coinage, a Talentum( talent in English) was worth 60,000 times the daily wage and the Mina was worth 20 times the daily wage// A king traveled to a foreign land and left three servants with various number of coins. When he returned the king rewarded those servants who invested the money in commerce and made profit, while He punished those who buried the coins and returned them without a profit. The king remonstrated that he would have expected the servant to have at least lent the money to a bank, because that would have earned interest. The king was described as a man who expected to reap even without sewing: i. e. an investor.

I hope that we have learned from the fate of Eastern Europe that Marxism is deadly to the well-being of a people. And let us not fall for the cheap sloganeering of crypto-Marxists who rail against unfettered Capitalism and describe low taxation of earnings as “tax cuts for the rich.”

Socialism delande est!