By Anil Netto
We are witnessing history in the making. The collapse of the global economy that we are witnessing now may be likened to the fall of the Soviet Union and communism in terms of its impact on the countries that are hardest hit. Indeed, we are witnessing the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression. The unravelling of global capitalism has
been traced to the dodgy sub-prime loans which were eventually passed to other financial institutions after being repackaged as investment instruments with fancy names.

That, however, is just a superficial analysis. Perhaps the real cause of our predicament is the entire ‘financialisation’ of the global economy to reap ever-increasing rewards for the surpluses generated by monopoly capitalists. In the mature economies of the west, the real economy — the actual production of goods — was not growing fast enough for those with such surpluses to reap rich rewards. Indeed for much of the period from the 1970s, the real economy had been fairly stagnant.

So with the stagnation in the real economy, monopoly capitalists needed to invest somewhere else to ensure larger returns for their surplus funds. They needed bubbles to be generated. Asset bubbles were often created through the provision of cheap and easy credit, backed by increasingly dodgy collateral. To ensure that the system could continue to generate periodic and ever larger asset bubbles one after the other, a whole system of financial deregulation was pursued under the neo-liberal model. Those with surplus funds to invest were growing richer and richer while the poor were getting poorer. The gap between the rich and the poor was growing larger.

But as the bubbles grew bigger and bigger, more debt was needed to support it. For instance, recall how they were literally confronting the public in supermarkets and persuading them to apply for credit cards. At the same time, however, the conditions and collateral for lending and credit grew progressively weaker. More and more people were taking loans and credit cards to spend beyond their means — Even the United States was spending beyond its means as its deficits grew larger and larger.

Until, one fine day, someone woke up and realised that the collateral and house prices were not enough to support the bubble and the repackaged investments looked increasingly dubious. And then, the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

Christians and people of other faiths must come together and think of alternative economic models that can create a fairer and more just society. We cannot leave it tothose who got us into this mess in the first place. In a string of countries, people have demanded real change. In the United States, however, the administration is using trillions of dollars in public funds to rescue private banks. But instead of the administration nationalising the banks, they are allowing the banks and financial institutions to remain in private hands — so that they can continue business as usual. This is happening under Obama’s watch — the president many had hoped would reform the US economy and come up with a New Deal.

The prophet Amos reminds us that God will not allow an intolerable economic system to persist. He railed against those who oppressed the poor and warned that God would respond to the oppression of the poor and powerless. Now, Amos lived during a time when the rich were growing richer and the poor, poorer. The poor were being driven off the land, as wealthy landowners acquired more land and used the labour of the destitute to grow cash crops for export.

Amos warns the overconfident elite, who lie “on beds inlaid with ivory” and “sprawl on couches, eat lamb from the flock and veal from calves fattened in the stall” — in other words, those who live a lavish life-style while the poor are oppressed and neglected.

In Chapter 8, he warns them: 4 Listen to this, you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing, 5 you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then, we can make the bushel measure smaller and the shekel-weight bigger, by fraudulently tampering with the scales. 6 We can buy up the weak for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, and even get a price for the sweepings of the wheat.’ 7 Yahweh has sworny the pride of Jacob, ‘Never will I forget anything they have done.’

For Amos, God is a god of justice, who will never forget the cries of the poor. The injustice towards the poor was not the act of just one person but it was institutionalised. A small group of elite benefited as the land was taken from the poor and their labour squeezed to benefit a small minority. God vows, through Amos, that this unjust system will be dismantled and destroyed because of such oppression. Israel Salanter, an Israeli rabbi once said, “A person should be more concerned with spiritual than with material matters, but another person’s material welfare is your own spiritual concern.” In other words, we would be failing in our spirituality if we ignore the cries of the poor.

How did Jesus feed a crowd of some 10,000 (including women and children) using the two fish and five loaves provided by a young boy? Was it heavenly magic or hocus pocus? Is that all we see in the parable?

I like to think that he was pointing to a new, more egalitarian economic system in which no one would be left wanting essentials especially food. Jesus used the resources given by a young boy in the crowd, all the food that he had, to share with others. Is it possible that this boy was the only person in the vast multitude who had food with him? Or is it more likely that there were others like that little boy who had brought along food that that day when they turned up to listen to Jesus?

Could it be possible that Jesus used this littleboy to show the crowd that if they shared what they had with those who didn't have anything, God would ensure that everyone had more than enough with leftovers to spare. Did others in the crowd follow the example of the young boy and share what they had? Was that the real miracle that day? That no one need be hungry or destitute, if only we share whatever resources we have with those who don't have anything?

In the same way, from a broader perspective, we need to build an economy that doesn't neglect the poor and those without the resources to survive, especially during these difficult times.

Anil Netto can be reached by anilnetto@herald.com.my