The Meaning of Wealth
Frank Cocozzelli printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sun Nov 14, 2010 at 02:25:55 PM EST
I based the title of my last post, The Miserly Society upon a term used by the economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946).  In this post I want to further explain what the revolutionary thinker meant by "miserly"; how it ran contrary to what wealth meant to him as well as his contemporary, the Catholic economist Monsignor John A. Ryan (1869-1945); and how their often similar views matter now more than ever -- especially in responding to the economic agenda of the modern American Religious Right.
Keynes' and Ryan help us to answer such questions as "what is the meaning of wealth?" And "what is its purpose and how much is necessary?" These are fundamental questions that need to be answered afresh in every age.  And for liberals in America, we also need to answer "what is the relationship between wealth creation and liberty?  Our answers to these questions have everything to do with the political viability of the Left - religious or otherwise.

Both economists - one a British atheist and the other, an Irish-American Catholic priest - understood the elements of economic justice. And although Keynes arrived at his views from different