God Bless Us, Every One!

I have just finished reading "A Christmas Carol". I try to read it every year, because nothing else maintains the sort of mindset that really gets me in the Christmas spirit. Here is the quote from the discussion between Scrooge and Marley's ghost that has bearing on our discussion of the poor:

"But you always were a good man of business, Jacob" faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing his hands agains. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

How many of us will get to the end of our lives and find out we spent all the time we had being busy with the wrong things, and were only profitable in matters that were not important?

Some of you may say, "If it was up to people like you AC, you would have none of us make any kind of profit, and tax us all to death for socialized healthcare! You're a bleeding heart socialist!"

You're wrong. I believe in capitalism. But not the social Darwinistic, law of the jungle dominated, form of capitalism we seem to have in the United States. I believe that this form of capitalism without conscience is what has contributed to the plight of the working poor in this country.

Let me illustrate with Dickens' story. After Scrooge's conversion, he blessed those around him. He started paying his employee a living wage, and assisted him and his family any way he could. This sort of individualized help would probabally not be possible if it was administered through a social agency. Instead, someone who really knew Bob Cratchit helped him, giving him exactly what was necessary.

This is not at odds with making profit. Loyalty and morale increase when working for a good company or being managed by a boss who cares about his employees.

Thanks for reading,

Merry Christmas,

AC