Christians & The Free Market

In a pure free-market economy, employers will weigh various factors before paying their employees more or less, mathematically speaking, as little as they can - and in so doing maximize their profits.

Meanwhile, in many circumstances, and according to whatever sales strategies are being applied, producers/employers will charge as much as they can, mathematically speaking, for their products or services - and so maximize their profits.

If the desperation of potential employees and the competition for jobs are at certain levels, thanks to the mathematics of the free market, employers may be able to get away with paying less than a living wage.

What, to your way of thinking, should a Christian's attitude be to this kind of mathematics?

@fmf said
In a pure free-market economy, employers will weigh various factors before paying their employees more or less, mathematically speaking, as little as they can - and in so doing maximize their profits.

Meanwhile, in many circumstances, and according to whatever sales strategies are being applied, producers/employers will charge as much as they can, mathematically speaking, for ...[text shortened]... age.

What, to your way of thinking, should a Christian's attitude be to this kind of mathematics?

Capitalism cannot exist without morality. We’re seeing that truth play out in America right now.

@pb1022 said
Capitalism cannot exist without morality. We’re seeing that truth play out in America right now.

From your Christian point of view, what bearing should morality have on how much or how little an employer pays his or her employees,?

@fmf said
From your Christian point of view, what bearing should morality have on how much or how little an employer pays his or her employees,?

Every employer ought to pay a living wage if they can afford to.

I read an article quite a while ago that compared the differences in CEO salaries to workers’ salaries in the 1950s to current day and it was striking. CEOs back then were happy with a comfortable lifestyle and not an extravagant one. That no longer appears to be the case.

Nothing reveals how far America has sunk morally in the business world than Amazon delivery drivers being forced to piss in bottles in their cars because they don’t have time for a bathroom break while Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, sits on a $180 billion fortune.

@fmf said
In a pure free-market economy, employers will weigh various factors before paying their employees more or less, mathematically speaking, as little as they can - and in so doing maximize their profits.

Meanwhile, in many circumstances, and according to whatever sales strategies are being applied, producers/employers will charge as much as they can, mathematically speaking, for ...[text shortened]... age.

What, to your way of thinking, should a Christian's attitude be to this kind of mathematics?

I’ve been mulling this over, it’s an interesting dilemma that companies can find themselves in if they wish to consider the moral aspects of pay for performance.

There is another angle to add in…

Companies pay their staff just enough to stop their staff leaving while staff work just hard enough to prevent themselves being sacked for underperformance.

Both your premise and my addendum offer such broadly based cultural, fiscal and occupational psychological constructs it’s difficult to draw finite conclusions. But from a biblical perspective there is the text “the worker is deserving of his/her wages”.

@divegeester said
I’ve been mulling this over, it’s an interesting dilemma that companies can find themselves in if they wish to consider the moral aspects of pay for performance.

There is another angle to add in…

Companies pay their staff just enough to stop their staff leaving while staff work just hard enough to prevent themselves being sacked for underperformance.

Both your p ...[text shortened]... sions. But from a biblical perspective there is the text “the worker is deserving of his/her wages”.

<<Companies pay their staff just enough to stop their staff leaving while staff work just hard enough to prevent themselves being sacked for underperformance.>>

I don’t think this is true at all - especially not the last part. Most people, in my experience, take pride in their work and often will go “above and beyond” based on that.

<<Both your premise and my addendum offer such broadly based cultural, fiscal and occupational psychological constructs it’s difficult to draw finite conclusions>>

That’s why we need a robust raft of Scripture.

<<But from a biblical perspective there is the text “the worker is deserving of his/her wages”.>>

Now you’re talkin’!