Reason with Compassion

By Donald Phillipps in Articles

reflections on greed

Reason(ugby) With(orld) Compassion(up)

I promise you, the above is the only nod in the direction of the feeding frenzy to which we have been subjected over the past four years. Except to offer the reminder that our hosting of the RWC was much as anything promoted on the basis of the financial return this country would receive.

Of infinitely greater significance, in the long-term, has been the extraordinary expression of anger, world-wide, over the perceived mismanagement and greed of the international banking system. Banks that were bailed out during the financial crisis of 2009 are accused of continuing to act selfishly, and irresponsibly, while literally millions struggle to make ends meet.
Protests have taken place all over the world - the Octagon was occupied for a time. A modest turnout here in Dunedin, but tens of thousands in Greece, for example, which is in any case in a state of financial chaos. If the protesters lacked a cohesive goal or message, as their critics point out, the protests did address a number of important societal issues, such as the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Over the last 30 years, the income gap between the top one per cent (or more accurately, the top 0.1 per cent) and the rest of us has increased substantially.

'Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." That's how Jesus Christ prefaced a story about a man who spent his life building up a nest egg, only to die the very night he decided to upgrade his barns and retire. Are those who are carefully saving for their retirement like the "rich fool" of the parable?
The church has traditionally taught that avarice is a deadly sin. But attitudes today towards greed are no longer so clear cut. There are economists who would say that greed is an appropriate, even essential, ingredient of modern capitalism, and that the public good is promoted by people being selfish. So greed becomes a virtue! Have we lost our bearings by talking so much about achievement or success? We celebrate the quest for material abundance, and words such as thrift, prudence and moderation become quaint and old fashioned.

Those who watch our spending patterns suggest that people are focusing more and more on themselves. As our riches have grown, our outlook has narrowed. This may suggest that we will find it easier to be generous when giving comes with a financial benefit. What, for example, will be the long-term effect of this Government's decision to scrap the gift tax? Will we use the change to become more supportive of charitable work?
Sadly, no, since people seem less concerned with the wider world. If greed can be defined as taking more than our fair share, let's remember that a child born in New Zealand will probably consume the same as 30 or so children born in developing countries.
Comments made by an economist from among our cousins across the Tasman can be applied with some accuracy, I believe, to us on this side. He says that [our] self-orientation is proof of growing avarice. A dwindling interest in the outside world, the growing importance of money and unprecedented acquisitiveness all point to a greedier populace in his view. "There is no doubt Australians [read Kiwis] are much more greedy than we used to be, but with less justification than ever because we are wealthier than ever,"
People may be involved in voluntary organisations, we may invite our neighbours over for a barbecue, but are we as concerned with broad issues such as the environment, public education and health services?

Who is the rich fool of whom Jesus was speaking?
Donald Phillipps