Quote:

Capitalism morality or Moral Capitalism ? If we strive to be Capitalist then we must also strive to be moral? With religious freedom whose morals do "the capitalist" follow?

The stockholders are not investing in our company we must increase the bottom line. "Increase the bottom line by sending this set of jobs overseas at a cheaper rate".

Which is the moral answer?

1. Don't worry about America jobs the government will help retrain them.
2. The 3rd world counties need jobs to become self sufficient and thus reducing US aid.

Where to from here ??



KCC: I respectfully disagree with the incredibly informed and wise cat. Reducing problems to dualities is useful in terms of our understanding of issues; however, once we've examined a problem in an "either/or" manner, it's pretty important to look at the "and" and "instead" modes of thought as well.

If we take morality as a system which attempts to alleviate the greatest suffering of the greatest number of people, then the most important thing to do is to help those less fortunate than us, even if they live outside of the United States. Thus the latter of your statements.

If we take morality as a system which attempts to alleviate the greatest suffering of people in the United States, the question is more difficult -- and absolutely debatable -- but I believe that as capitalism is practiced in the United States that it is still more important to practice global trade and reduce barriers. I once got the opportunity to have dinner with a Nobel-prize winning economist (not an American) who remarked that much of the suffering in the last century was due to tarrifs and restricted trade and then went on to very forcefully argue his points.

However, in the end, I'm glad we live in a society which is mostly capitalistic but with some remnants of socialism (the social safety net, for example.) So I like the fact that the creative destruction of capitalism has a pinch of job training in it.

One of the greatest moral issues in religion can be codified as who your neighbor is that you are supposed to love.