Christianomics: A blog on economics, politics, and law

There are those on the political left (both non-Christians and professing Christians) who claim Jesus was a socialist (1). They point to verses like Acts 20:35 as evidence the church’s mission to care for the poor should also be the government’s mission. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” -Acts 20:35 While this sounds good on its face, this comparison misses a fundamental difference between the church and the government: freedom of association. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, [NOT] reluctantly or under [COMPULSION], for God loves a cheerful giver.” -2 Corinthian 9:7 When you join a church, you do so because you want to. When you tithe or support missionaries, you do so because you want to. Yes, we are told to, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,” (Malachi 3:10) , but no one gets fined or whipped or punished for refusing to tithe. Even if a bad church were to do such things, that church would not la...

 

The minimum wage is in the news again thanks to the Biden administration’s stimulus bill (1). While I’ve already written about the history of the minimum wage and its effects on the poor, I wanted to address the root source of the minimum wage fallacy: Karl Marx’ Labor Theory of Value. To put it simply, the theory says that someone should be compensated based on how hard they work. If you have an easy job and aren’t required to work very hard then you should be paid little. If you have a more difficult job and have to work hard at it, then you should be paid more (2). While this sounds good on its face, this assumption is very dangerous and can lead a country down the path of minimum wage laws, price controls, and government controls of production (socialism). --------------------------------- Meet Dr. Hank, an average (Level 5 out of 10), everyday brain surgeon. He has a good work ethic (8 out of 10) and a positive attitude (7 out of 10). As an average, everyday brain surgeon, Dr. Han...

https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/07/evangelicals-for-biden-feel-used-and-betrayed-by-biden-fulfilling-his-radical-abortion-promises/   I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I want to shout “I told you so”. But on the other hand I recognize it takes a dose of humility and appreciation of sunk cost to admit you are wrong. And that’s far more important. Welcome Biden voters. There is still much to do.

"Prices are communication. Price controls are government censorship." -Russ Nelson One of the most important factors (and one of the most overlooked) aspects of free market capitalism is the utility of prices. Without know anything about the product, a high price can tell you something is rare or hard to make. It might also hint at the quality of two similar products. Price controls (most often associated with top-down socialism and communism) removes these features. And that’s when you excesses (when prices are fixed too high) and shortages (when prices are fixed too low).