The church & the economy
Steidl-Meier, Paul & Nahser, F. Byron & Willis, Rachel A. & Oswald, Rudy
nnlMII I I The church & the economy FOUR RESPONSES TO THE PAUL STEIDL-MEIER A reformist document I I T HE OTHF_R SHOE has dropped. Following upon their much discussed pastoral on war and...
...They challenge us to complement our political democracy with an economic democracy in which the spirit of human dignity is the fundamental norm...
...Both points deserve comment...
...It sets forth five specific elements to be undertaken as a national response to unemployment...
...In fact, church teaching historically leans toward democratic market-oriented economies for a number of reasons, including their economic efficiency, as well as the social harm generally caused by power concentrated in the hands of a few...
...See their consensus paper, "The Workbench of Life" in Origins, February 16, 1984...
...RUDY OSWALD Labor & the bishops' letter HE BISHOPS' draft letter clearly recognizes the central | role of work, of workers, and of unions of workers in an ethical evaluation of economic policy...
...Therefore we firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions or to prevent workers from organizing through intimidation and threats...
...However, as the bishops point out, Americans are decent and want ~o do good...
...Major changes in national priorities and policies are the important task ahead, and the transformation of a political democracy into an economic democracy can begin at the parish level...
...9 Formation of local, state, and national coalitions to press for job creation...
...Some are tempted to dismiss Michael Novak as the Jacqueline Susann of Catholic social thought, treating important themes in trivial ways and interpreting the positions of others with all Commonweal: 650 the accuracy of a gossip columnist...
...The Deficit Recovery Act of 1984 includes major provisions making employee stock ownership very favorable to companies, employees, and banks...
...The letter realistically calls for a "system of taxation based on assessment according to ability to pay...
...automobile industry -- reducing their share of the market in recent years by three million vehicles annually, buying instead better-made Japanese products...
...They argue that the rules of the game need to be changed to achieve the ultimate objective of satisfyiiag human needs, both material and spiritual...
...This does not mean a rejection of the work ethic, the invisible hand, or the right to private property...
...law reform is needed to give greater substance to the right to organize, to prevent intimidation of workers, and to provide remedies in a more timely manner for unfair labor practices...
...Those represented by the Simon-Novak commission have every right, and even a duty, to speak forth on these issues (though one may quarrel with how they have gone about it...
...The reason is that the presuppositions of market theory regarding resource control, market entry, information, and power turn out, in reality, to be violated...
...The injunction to read the sign.s of the times comprises a statement of faith: that God is alive, not dead...
...Commonweal: 654...
...The reason, simply, is that products are made by organizations...
...The historical record of our actual market system on child labor, toxic wastes, product safety, energy conservation, pricefixing, income distribution, international cooperation, and so forth has been beset with problems...
...The American bishops' document is reformist in spirit...
...Clearly, the pastoral letter will be denounced by those who would deny workers their right to form unions, and by those who claim that unemployment and poverty will be cured by policies that reward the wealthy and whose benefits might someday slowly trickle down to benefit the rest of society...
...If we opt for what would fundamentally remain a market system, as I would do, it must be guided by morally responsible public choices...
...Their call for democratic economy creates a Catholic agenda well worth serious pursuit...
...The most important points are the questions the bishops raise rather than this or that policy which they may recommend...
...The document goes well beyond mere handwringing about the plight of the unemployed...
...There is a dynamic unity between love of God and love of neighbor, and if we say we love God, whom we do not see, while we do not love our neighbor, whom we see, then, quite simply we are liars (1 John 2:9 ff...
...Historically, in the United States the market has not been self-regulating with respect to social benefits and costs, and people have favored a legal path to reform...
...The quality of each element is absolutely crucial tothe proper functioning of the whole system...
...The bishops speak clearly, with a resolute voice for thepoor and powerless, and as stewards of humanity...
...In examining employment and welfare programs, the bishops repeatedly find policies which create economic incentives for inefficiency and injustice...
...Advertising, Chicago, Ill...
...However, for workers, farmers, the poor, and the elderly, this document is a clarion call for a new society that gives a voice to workers and farmers, and offers them a democratic and positive role in economic decision-making...
...To overlook this key point is to miss exactly one-half of the economic equation: consumption...
...One simple example: when welfare eligibility requirements for AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) exclude families if the father is present in the home, incentives for the dissolution of the family are created, clearly not the intent of the program...
...labor...
...Could we ever overcome all the obvious stumbling blocks and qualifications necessary to arrive at a profound and spiritual meaning of the statement: "To consume is to pray...
...The first is the bishops' call for a new American experiment in which cooperation and collaboration prevail...
...In and of itself such a position does not rule out market- and businessbased solutions...
...The labor movement accepts that challenge, while recognizing the bishops' caveat that "we must devise ways of insuring employment and adequate wages for U.S...
...Some companies, however -- the Japanese particularly -- feel that enlightened policies actually reduce costs and improve qualityt) Consumers are not usually anxious to pay more for a product when a similar one costs less...
...9 Expansion of job-training and apprenticeship programs in the private sector...
...Depending on the cultural setting, the historical background, the realities of power, the level of technology, natural resources, and the demographic characteristics of a region, people must then figure out what to produce, how to do it, for whom, when, where, and so forth...
...Finally, financial support of local cooperatives could involve the community in socially productive investments which would implement the spirit of the letter...
...Novak does represent an important body of public opinion...
...The distribution of resources is of primary concern, The bishops focus on macroeconomic issues which must become microeconomic realities...
...Byron Nahser is president of Frank C. Nahser, Inc...
...There is, in my opinion, a third question which is at least as important, if not more so: "'What do people do to the economy...
...We in marketing know that consumers will pay more for a product with more perceived value -- a product in a fancy package or a product with a designer label...
...The letter goes on to call for "a significantly increased level of collaboration and cooperation among the many economic actors in our society" in order for the nation to rise to the challenges before it...
...Today, over 15 million Americans suffer either full or partial unemployment...
...The same "socially added" value concept may, and has, attracted Concerned investors to progressive companies as well...
...With great anticipation I look forward to future rounds...
...This analysis would not only complete the economic cycle -- it would answer a vital concern stated by the bishops at the close of their letter (pp...
...In economic language, the letter demands a new objective function, and insists on an incentive structure that is efficient: maximize equity, not material output...
...This recognition is a welcome focus amid the cacophony of calls by those who claim that property fights and ownership are the paramount and only elements to be considered in economic decisionmaking...
...If a company does good for employees -job-training, lifdtime employment -- uses more ecologically benign processes, etc., the costs usually go up and profits go down . . . . at least for the short tenn...
...That is the critical, missing element in the bishops' economic equation...
...Other important policy prescriptions in the letter include a restructuring of the international economic framework, a negative income tax, a massive national reform of the welfare system, and a "shift out of arms and into butter...
...This is not a facile turn of a phrase, but a simple realization that the economy produces goods which are bought...
...Following upon their much discussed pastoral on war and the nuclear question, the Catholic bishops have published the first draft of their views on the United States economy...
...He is author of Social Justice Ministry: Foundations and Concerns, New York, LeJacq Publishing Co., 1984...
...A trivial example is the one product mentioned in the entire 112 pages of the pastoral which Americans consume: cut flowers from Colombia -- grown on land taken away from the poor (p...
...are children...
...The bishops have done their homework: their analysis of economic events and data is comprehensive and coherent...
...nnlMII I I The church & the economy FOUR RESPONSES TO THE PAUL STEIDL-MEIER A reformist document I I T HE OTHF_R SHOE has dropped...
...Is it possible to build a theology of consump6on guided by persuasion and education, not policy and legislation...
...The AFL-CIO has supported plant-closing legislation like that proposed by the bishops...
...Of particular concern should be the high unemployment rates suffered by blacks (15.4 percent) and Hispanics (10.9 percent...
...However, as private property rights are not absolute, price mechanisms must insure an efficient allocation of resources consistent with human dignity...
...One critical element in the consumption equation needs to be addressed: cost...
...it simply insists that such strategies be both morally responsible as well as morally responsive...
...The American labor movement concurs wholeheartedly 30 November 1984:653 with the bishops' statement that: "the most urgent priority for U.S...
...As the bishops look at international relationships, they challenge U.S...
...This modest example shows how little consciousness Americans have of the impact of their buying...
...RACHEL A. WILLIS For a democratic economy III M IANY ANTICIPATED that the bishops' pastoral letter might be a rejection of capitalism, a return to I Keynesian macroeconomic policies, or even a call for socialism...
...workers which are consistent with increased participation in international trade by developing countries...
...Rachel A. Willis is the associate director of the Democratic Managemem Project, Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina...
...And when we buy products, we are rewarding certain organizations...
...Recalling America's successful experiment in political democracy, the letter declares that "the time has come for a similar experiment in economic democracy: the creation of an order that guarantees the minimum conditions of human dignity in the economic sphere for every person...
...in the concrete, it can be realized in many diverse shapes and forms...
...In conjunction with efforts by the Campaign for Human Development, parish support of cooperative enterprises is possible through groups patterned after the Small Business Administration's SCORE chapters (Service Corps of Retired Executives...
...Local Catholic Cooperative Assistance Boards could offer business experience, resources, and advice to cooperative enterprises...
...To say it another way, while the bishops study closely the role of people as producers and workers, it is at least as vital to study their role as consumers...
...Without it, the picture is neither whole nor holy...
...The poor and the elderly are given a new hope for a "life with dignity...
...In order to create more work, we must raise consumption...
...The bishops call for: _9 A major new policy commitment to achieve full employment, defined as in the range of 3 or 4 percent unemployment...
...More important examples where consumption patterns have been questioned are in nuclear energy, infant formula, and produce harvested by migrant workers...
...The bishops state that: "It is patently unjust to deny these workers any role in shaping the outcome of such difficult choices...
...trade unions' "to recognize that justice in wages and employment within our borders cannot be purchased at the cost of injustice on a global scale...
...Now -- after all the derisive laughter has subsided -perhaps we could reflect on it...
...However, of course, the question then is: What products and services are produced, and what impact does the consumption of these have on our society...
...Economic justice in a market economy presupposes a legal framework as well as a cultural framework...
...The bishops' letter also spells out a new recognition of a role for workers in economic decision-making...
...it does not issue a sweepitig condemnation of market-oriented economies (capitalism) as such, but it does call for significant political and economic changes...
...But it is also a critical examination of the American economy with one particular question in mind: how do economic policies affect the poor...
...The bishops have not assessed the productive efficiency of some theoretical model of capitalism...
...Americans would, if they knew, buy products/brands with more substantial "socially added" value...
...The latter notion they articulate in terms of basic, inalienable economic rights and duties...
...Changing these rules will alter the result enormously...
...domestic economic policy is the creation of new jobs with adequate pay and decent working conditions...
...The chief obstacle to effective action toward a just economic order is not the lack of empirical knowledge nor of management and technological know-how...
...Quite simply, the plight of the poor represents the most egregious instance of social sin in the political-economic arena today...
...The bishops document the finding that the economic system does not provide equitably for the poor and powerless, and they conclude that a new economic democracy must be structured tO insure human dignity...
...The Diocese of Charlotte has been very successful in bringing together Catholic managers and workers in a labor management dialogue...
...106.-107): The Christian perspective on the meaning of economic life as whole and holy is not well known in our country today...
...that is, they do not guarantee participation...
...Both the radical left as well as conservatives in the church and in society will be less than pleased...
...The dialogue process, which the bishops have used so effectively in the past for discussing the various drafts of pastoral letters, points in the direction they wish to go to insure fuller participation in the economic system and social structures of American life...
...Very few, if any, contemporary markets reflect the self-correcting invisible hand of competition...
...Throughout, their analysis is conducted through the prism of faith, and in light of a preferential option for the poor...
...The emphasis is on "genuine participation" and broader "sharing of responsibility in economic society...
...The use of cooperative business structure for start-ups, conversibns, and buy-outs is rapidly increasing...
...The dynamics of the present structures embody a built-in preferential option for the best and the brightest, the privileged, and the powerful, which entails unacceptable consequences for the poor...
...As political citizens, Catholics should take action to foster both worker cooperatives and quality daycare...
...The bishops talk a great deal about encouraging organizations to do better in employee relations and the production of worthwhile products...
...political economy is biased in morally unacceptable ways against the poor, and the vulnerable, and the excluded...
...To borrow from Socrates, the unexamined (economic) life is not worth living...
...The second part of the letter raises more than a hundred policy issues and defies facile summary...
...9 And improvement of job placement services...
...He is currently executive-inresidence at DePaul University's Graduate School of Business...
...It is our hope that the Congress will now move forward with such legislation...
...They have carefully examined the web of law, policy, and practice which surrounds the economy and determines the winners and losers in the present economic system...
...The bishops also reiterate the church's longstanding support of "the fight of workers to form unions?' They state that: "trade unions express the essentially social nature of human persons and manifest the human need for solidarity," and note a new attack upon workers' rights to organize: No one may deny the right to organize for purposes of collective bargaining or coercively suppress unions without attacking human dignity itself...
...Rather it is the effective lack of political will, Which is rooted in moral insensitivity, on the one hand, and systematic abuse of power, on the other...
...The New York Times quoted Archbishop Weakland's pun involving Milwaukee's reputation for brewing: "After the first draft," he said, "everything gets better...
...Business and government officials Must be urged to support programs which improve the availability, affordability, and quality of daycare...
...As an advertising and marketing practitioner, I want to make clear that my concern with purchasing power is a n addition to the pastoral letter, which I found otherwise brilliant and inspiring...
...We Americans did it with a vengeance to the U.S...
...As a minimum, workers have a right to be informed in advance when such decisions are under consideration, a right to negotiate with management about possible alternatives, and a right to fair compensation and assistance with retraining and relocation expenses should these be necessary...
...It DRAFT OF THE PASTORAL I I does not say: achieve this by setting up a market system, central planning, or cooperatives...
...In effect this teaching says: in whatever way you organize yourselves economically, take care that the dignity of all is respected (in terms of participation, meeting human needs, and so forth...
...The bishops' call for a new commitment to economic justice introduces a moral perspective into our daily economic and political choices...
...While supporting the rights of parents to care for their own children, the bishops see a critical need for improving daycare services...
...The economy should be geared to meeting human needs first and foremost, and it should provide that all have a voice in economic affairs...
...For all that, the social teaching of the church remains protean...
...Americans tend to view the economy in polar terms...
...There is a call in the letter to a more Simple and just lifestyle, but it needs to be developed and analyzed with the same care, energy, and creativity as was devoted to the other subjects...
...Such an agenda must be pursued at national and international levels to effect the necessary transitions...
...Their encouragement of cooperative ownership of industry and shared decisionmaking is an important proposal...
...Echoing Tertullian, the bishops affirm that nothing which is human Stands outside of the central concern of our communal life in God...
...If anything, it is a clear affirmation of confidence in the capitalist system's ability to provide resources effectively while not always properly allocating them...
...As consumers, we can and do reward those industries which we believe fulfill our requirements, and punish those which do not...
...There are those who may be quite religious, but who see no connection between the domain of work and of economic life and the basically spiritual perspective of a just society...
...As an economist, I would like to expand on two of the policy applications suggested in the draft, and explain how they might be implemented at the parish level...
...The logic of this brief comment runs something like this: In order to help themselves, the poor need to work...
...They note that our children (our future) are dramatically affected by current eonomic policies: nearly half of the people living below the official poverty level in the U.S...
...Comments on consumption -based on the free expression of how we spend our time and money -- need a section of their own in the final pastoral letter...
...Perhaps the most far-reaching aspect of the pastoral is the cultural critique it contains of contemporary economic values...
...The proposals are all clearly important programs that address the number-one problem of unemployment...
...Benedict stated most originally, succinctly, and inspirationally the meaning and dignity of work when he said: "To work is to pray...
...To justify a certain set of economic relations simply because it has produced an impressive amount of wealth is grossly utilitarian and fails ~to give an adequate account of these inalienable economic fights of all, which are not open to trade-offs (as John Rawls would say), based either on group egoism or utilitarian criteria and achieved with trickle-down mechanisms...
...The steady growth of worker cooperatives and their excellent record with respect to profitability, productivity, innovation, and personal satisfaction has fueled interest in cooperatives from the financial right to the political left...
...F. BYRON NAHSER A needed third question II I I T HE BISHOPS STATE in their first paragraph that the entire discussion on economic life must be shaped by two questions: "What does the economy do for people...
...What dinner party hostess gives a thought as to where the roses on her table come from...
...It is none of these...
...Of course markets often do not work in practice...
...The use of church facilities for daycare would be an efficient way to help implement such a policy...
...Take marketS...
...There are references in the bishops' letter to greed, avarioe, and materialism as bad motives of consumption...
...For individual or private management decisions have profoundly public effects...
...I urge the bishops to apply their compassion and erudition to the task...
...Why the option for the poor...
...They offer nothing to those who cannot enter or play by the rules of the game...
...In the board game Monopoly, the rules which permit the building of hotels (and collection of enormous rents) only if all property in a color group is owned, insure that there will be winners and Commonweal: 652 losers and that the game will end in a relatively quick fashion...
...The letter also recognizes the problems related to plantclosings...
...We welcome the recognition that there are priorities that are above "the preservation of privileged concentrations of power, wealth, and income...
...Rudy Oswald is director of the AFL-CIO' s Department of Economic Research in Washington, D.C...
...A second area of policy implementation on the parish level suggested by the pastoral is that of childcare...
...Thus the main problem becomes the quality of markets, once one recognizes how frequently markets violate their own principles of fairness...
...An analysis of consumption can make linkages so these two groups as consumers can see how their purchases are powerful 30 November 1984:651 leverage points to help change society...
...To be sure, there are other issues...
...but the poor have a special claim on our concerns because they are so vulnerable and needy...
...If they understood the added cost of a product is due to a company's enlightened policies, then they might be persuaded to buy such products over those of a less enlightened -- and less costly -competitor...
...that God is present, not as a bystanderl but in a way that intimately communicates the loving indwelling of the Trinity with all (John 17...
...What does it do to people...
...Over against such groups as the Simon-Novak commission, which produced its own "lay letter" on church teachings and the economy, the bishops argue that the de facto structure of the U.S...
...In this letter the biblical basis of concern as well as the exposition of the reasoning underlying Catholic social thought are both lucidly and cogently presented...
...The section of the letter dealing with poverty sets forth norms that affect workers, as it calls for the "removal of barriers to full and equal employment for women and minorities, improving child care services, improving the quality of education for poor children,, promoting programs to foster self-help among the poor, and reforming the tax system to reduce the burden on the poor...
...But that would be a mistake...
...9 Increased government support for direct job creation programs targeted on those groups in which unemployment is a persistent problem, such as young people and minorities...
...To do this, the letter calls for a new "spirit of cooperation" and the "development of a new partnership between workers and managers...
...but analysis of consumption in specific and constructive terms is sorely lacking...
...They are beset with externalities and do not automatically respond to need...
...Clearly, the nation cannot be satisfied when 8.5 million Americans (7.4 percent) are unemployed, another 1.2 million are too discouraged by their joblessness to be counted in the official unemployment count, and another 5.5 million are on only part-time work schedules, even though they desire full-time work...
...But they don't encourage consumers to buy the products of those companies...
...The bishops compare the rather good record of the United States in political democracy to the nation's historical bias against "economic democracy...
...Contrary to the suppositions of the radicalleft, there is no reason in theory why market strategies cannot work...
...Indeed the Simon-Novak commission represents a preferential option for the status quo, guided in geopolitical matters by the magisterium of Henry Kissinger and in economic ones by the Business Roundtable...
...The bishops point out that the status quo systematically produces morally unacceptable consequences in terms of joblessness, poverty, social participation, and the international quality of life...
...All of the bishops' policies are clearly within the nation's economic capability, and the country should move forward with such programs...
...And the second group is made up of those who do raise questions, but feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of a complex economy...
...To the point, what is happening to our neighbor in social structures and institutions (in this case economic ones) is an intrinsically religious issue...
...Therefore, it will be difficult, in their opinion, to transform the lives of individuals and our culture as a whole -- especially among two significant groups of people...
...Paul Steidl-Meier, S.J., holds the Casassa Chair of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles...
Vol. 111 • November 1984 • No. 21
