Proverbs 14:21

"He who despises his neighbor sins,
but blessed is he who is kind to the needy"
~Proverbs 14:21

My wife and I "discuss" what to do about the poor often,(she is more conservative than I am).
"So what do you think is the answer to the poor? More government programs? Spend more money? Tax the rich? Become a socialist state where everyone is poor?"-she said one day.
"I don't know what the answer is. I just know that the way things are isn't working. If it is impossible to live simply on minimum wage and there is no way to get health care if you get sick, something is wrong.", I responded.
"Minimum wage wasn't meant to be lived on. Its meant as an entry level wage." She countered.
"But sometimes that is the only jobs that are available. Sometimes there are no raises or overtime available."
"So what do you want the government to do?"
"I want them to step in and do something about wages, and be a conscience for those employers that won't treat their workers well."

Our arguments expose the fact that I'm not sure what the answer is. Because I don't know what the answer is, I've started with what the answer isn't. More of the same status quo is not the answer for the poor. Just another social program isn't the answer. But what is part of the answer is a change in attitudes toward the poor and economics in general.

The capitalistic ideas that the fiscal health of a business is more important than the lives of its workers, that there must always be a race for higher profits and better productivity in order to just stay in business, these are the ideas that I am speaking of. Its obvious that these principles are a surefire way to stay in business, but at what cost?

What good is a company that is proud of how it "provides wages for its workers" if those wages aren't enough to rent an apartment,pay for utilities and food? What some of these ideas do is they allow business to play that common trump card called "the bottom line" whenever wages are discussed. "Increasing wages at this juncture just isn't good for the bottom line." This statement could be true. A business could need to freeze wages for awhile, but ask yourself this, how many employers let the bottom line trump all moral principles? The bottom line does not always have to be so low-down. Preferring profit to people is despising your neighbor.

In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan. He told how many people passed by the man who was suffering, but only one reached out to him. Jesus explained that in order to love God, we must love our neighbor as ourselves. He also pointed out that our neighbor is the person that we encounter that is in need. In I John we read that not giving to help those in need is evidence that the love of God is not in you.

"If anyone has material possessions and sees
his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?"~I John 3:17

So is this just another bash the rich post? I don't want it to be. But the bible does say have a lot to say about the rich and judgments
on those that do not treat their workers right. The important point I wanted to make is that the people that employ others have a social and biblical responsibility to do so in a way that helps their employees to do more than just barely survive.

The employees have a responsibility to work for their employers like they were working unto God, but that's a whole different post.

Thanks for reading,

AC