Social Justice and Libertarians

I'm helping a friend organise a seminar at a Christian "retreat" (for want of a better word) next weekend on Social Justice: God's heart for the poor. It's thought provoking.

It reminded me of how I usually look at Biblical passages: They seem to be the complaints of the poor and oppressed and although the oppressors are not necessarily made clear (other than often those that are oppressing David and others militarily), it has always struck me that it chimes with a lot of what the Left rails against profit maximising business.

The hope is that in this seminar we avoid a bit left vs right distinction, but I suspect it may well come up. I think those on the left are guilty of overdoing their aversion to the word profit - the motive to create money-making opportunities needn't always be bad, and often the alternative is worse - concentrate power in the hands of sinful politicians as opposed to corporation owners.

However, I think the right is equally guilty of a panacea-like view of markets: They are perfect, and should not be meddled with. For better or worse, I regularly look at the Cafe Hayek blog (which has the most irritating picture of a waiter - do all Libertarians look as annoying as that?!), which is generally a succession of letters written by Don Boudreaux to various US newspapers. This one in particular is consistent with the general feel: Bill Gates has no more power over my life than I do over his.

Libertarians, to make a sweeping statement, are unable to accept the proposition of market power in the absence of government intervention. They won't accept that in local areas companies are able to act as effective monopolies. They won't accept that companies are creative and manufacture ways to manipulate customers in the name of higher profits and returns; for them, the market activity of the company is entirely benign, because the market will always correct for nasty players (e.g. Microsoft) by nicer, more innovative players (e.g. Apple - for a naive take).

I find it hard to support either viewpoint and I guess that's why I'm pretty near the centre. Markets are far from perfect and basic economic theory talks about how the disparity between a socially optimal market outcome and a privately optimal one can be stark. But also, just the existence of that externality, in economics jargon, isn't necessarily enough to justify government failure on top of market failure. Railing against profits as the left do can be just as dangerous.

I think the Bible's passages on Social Justice make it clear: It's not ungodly to be rich - it's the mindset you have about it. If you place your entire being - hopes and all that - in your wealth as opposed to the Lord, then you'll be in trouble. But if you have put your trust in the Lord, as the book of James points out, this has to manifest itself in terms of actions - doing something about the poor and oppressed (and not just pontificating about whether they should or shouldn't exist - a trait of the right I think), who will always be with us in a fallen world.