The Stock Market as a Measure of Society?

Turn on the news and you’re sure to get an update on the financial markets. At the end of the day you are guaranteed to be told how the DOW finished the day, how many winners and losers there were, and how many shares were traded.

I’d like to know how many hungry people were fed, how many homeless were sheltered, how many unemployed found jobs with wages that can support their families, and how many uninsured found medical treatment. I’d also like to know how many abandoned elderly were visited and cared for, how many families escaped abortion, and how many children found safe homes.

When economics becomes the measure by which all other things are measured, everything is for sale: government, church, synagogue, mosque, temple, education, ethics, morality, heath care…life. Indeed, when economics becomes the benchmark then the entire nation and its people are for sale.