Would Jesus Be A Capitalist?

Michael Moore, as part of his anti-capitalism campaign, is sending around an e-mail asking if Jesus were alive today, would he be a capitalist, or would he be opposed to capitalism? Here's my response:

Name an economic system that would be better for the poor than capitalism. Seriously.

Sure, it creates big gaps between rich and poor, but would Jesus want you comparing your life's worth to the life of your neighbor? The poor in America have a better standard of living than the poor in most non-capitalist countries, with more opportunities for social mobility as well. A poor person in capitalist America is better off than both a poor person pretty much anywhere in non-capitalist Africa and a poor person anywhere in the world during the time of Jesus. Heck, they're better off than most rich people in both those situations (certainly most middle-class people). Better access to healthcare, education, resources, the tools for self-improvement, travel opportunities, social and socioeconomic advancement and development...

And to those who make the argument that those are trappings of modern society and not of capitalism itself, which economies invented all that stuff? Communist and socialist countries lagged behind the societies which lavishly rewarded those who brought tremendous value to those societies. Not everyone's a genius and a saint like Norman Borlaug. We're human, by and large, and respond to incentive structures. Life saving medicine is invented by pharmaceutical companies who expect patents on their $50 pills which save the taker a $10,000 operation (which itself was once not that big a price to pay for 20 more years on Earth). The best way to make money in a well-run capitalist economy is to provide things people want, that make their lives better. Sure, we've got regulatory gaps, but to abandon the system entirely? I don't buy it.

To those who say "OK, fine, capitalism was good, but now it's run its course. Let's go another direction," I reply: "What about tomorrow's poor?" Do we want to freeze the state of poverty, redistribute the wealth, and squelch innovation? Crawl along in a dangerous world not giving people strong incentives to better everyone? Capitalism was worse a hundred years ago than it is now...the current crisis highlighted some steps back, but we're still far ahead of where we were. We're making progress within capitalism, and the capitalists are making more progress than others.

What's the alternative? Non-capitalist countries are quickly adopting capitalist activities and policies, but the reverse isn't happening. Even successful "socialist" countries are really capitalist countries with socialism-inspired domestic policies. And they wouldn't be where they are today without the help of capitalist friends and trading partners.

Yes, we need a better safety net. Yes, we need to regulate markets and correct for market failures. But the dirty little secret is America won't really fail because capitalism will tumble...the Visigoths at our gate are not socialists, communists, or anything else. They're capitalists, who will beat us at our own game, the only game in town among superpowers, nations on the rise, and great societies. They'll better regulate, better incentivize, better innovate, better create...solar panels are coming from China and Germany; wireless innovations are coming from developing nations without legacy systems and inflexible out-of-date policies like India and Israel; we're being out-manufactured by places that can do it cheaply--and in doing so take the poor out of the streets and put them in bad jobs, but jobs nonetheless. Jobs where there were none before. And all these countries are coming around to capitalism.

Would Jesus be a capitalist? Would he find jobs and dignity for the poor? Would he help invent life-saving drugs or safer cars or cleaner energy? Would he sell software to help us make better decisions, and donate the money to a big foundation to level the educational playing field? Would he still walk around the countryside talking to people dozens at a time, or would he go with a book, a blog, a podcast, a TV segment, an Op-Ed? Almost 7 billion people, can't save them one at a time anymore.

He might not speculate in the derivatives market, because it's more or less a zero-sum game...but would he frown upon a farmer buying a weather derivative that pays off in case of an extra-dry season, giving him enough money to get by and replant next season? Would he tell Merck to close up shop? Would he disapprove of accessing capital markets to raise funds to build a hospital? Darn right Jesus would be a capitalist were he alive today. Just like the rest of the Jews.