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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mark silvers who wrote (17902)	6/22/1998 12:53:00 PM
From: Father Terrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Mark, Wealth doesn't magically pop into being. And wealth is not created by a printing press run by the U.S. Treasury. Wealth must be created. The only way that wealth grows is through creation. Most wealth is created by taking an idea and applying it to modify or manufacture something that has value to another person. In a free marketplace that value is decided upon by supply and demand. But you contend: "Money does not represent morality, nor can it be either moral or immoral. Wealth is very rarely created by trade that is done by free men and women giving value for value." That is true historically in countries ruled by monarchies, but not true in a free country ruled by its own people. Yet virtually all wealt IS created by trade. Tell me another way to create wealth! Yes, money can be misused by evil men, but basically, money is the root of all good. "Wealth is oftentimes created by using leverage to take great value for much lesser value. The "traders philosophy" that you mention, usually leads to great and systemic abuses unless checked by at least some degree of regulation.(note that I did not say "big government")" This is the Marxist/socialist view of capitalism adopted by John Maynard Keynes and promoted by John Kenneth Gailbraith. I suggest you read Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman's much more objective understanding of money and wealth. He has many excellent books including, "Free to Choose". "The picture painted of men and women happily giving each other fair value without the hindrance of any system is a very skewed one, IMO." That may be your opinion only because it was what you were taught in schools (especially government run ones), heard from ministers, or hear from much of the modern day media. Besides, there is always the good piece of advice, "Buyer Beware" placing the responsibilty where it should be (and used to be) on the buyer, not some committee or government agency/watchdog group. FT