CONVERSION ON THE ROAD TO WALL STREET
I kid you not, this is the title of the featured article in the December/January 1998 Special Double Issue of Worth! (by Walter Russell Mead)
If you are a Christian Investor pick up a copy and read it. Here are a few brief excerpts from the 10 page story:
®The miraculous markets of the past 20 years are facing an unholy problem: Many conservative Christians are no longer willing to march with the economic conservatives. Will your investments thrive if the Republican coalition doesn't?¯
®Investors should take note: If other factors don't pop the bubble first, the new class politics of the Christian right could spell the end of the long bull market.¯
®If the conservative Christians swept Reagan into Washington, business conservatives were the ones who shaped his policy once he got there.¯
®Yet while business conservatives pushed piece after piece of their program through the system, social conservatives -- Christian and otherwise -- derived relatively few victories from their new political strength¯
®The dynamic has now changed. Social conservatives are beginning to develop an economic agenda of their own, one that bears little resemblance to the libertarian paradise imagined by the Cato Institute.¯
®Promise Keepers is one of the most significant players in a recent new wave of Christian organizations that are remaking American politics.¯
®Conservative Christians are reaching out to African-Americans to build a majority coalition.¯
®Whether the issue is labor rights, free trade with China, or even defense spending, an increasing number of conservative Christians who study their Bibles will break with mainstream economic conservative thought¯
®In the longer run, it is potentially very good news for the United States.¯
®But in the short term -- the time frame in which most of us plan our retirements and save for our children's educations -- the impact of the new populism on financial markets could be much less benign.¯
®The Bible says many things, but nowhere does it teach that the main duty of government is to support stock prices with investor-friendly policies. Nowhere does it command that companies must have the legal right to pursue profits when their actions, such as closing down a factory or laying off workers, disrupt the lives and economic security of American families. And Jesus, as Eugene Rivers, Jim Wallis, and Gary Bauer all reminded me, didn't encourage His followers to get rich. In fact, His advice was just the opposite: "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor ---then come, follow me"(Luke 18:22).¯
®If pro-family replaces pro-business as the touchstone of American politics, investors may or may not follow Jesus' injunction to distribute money to the poor, but the first part of the advice -- "Sell all that you own" -- may turn out to be a very good idea for the owners of stocks and bonds.¯
What do you guys and gals think of this?
Will Christians really be the reason for the end of the 20 year Bull Market?
Gregor, are you sure God didn't send you a telegram telling you to start this thread when you did? I wouldn't be surprised if you don't pick up a few more lurkers after people read this article.
Cisco |
