Originally Posted by hevusa

There will always be an upper class, and there really isn't a problem there UNLESS they are achieving this status through immoral means. All too often we support ruthless and immoral companies with our money with a blind eye to morality (the crap food places, the gas guzzling car, the stock market blood money, warehouses that hire only part time employees to avoid paying benefits, etc). The bottom line of the company and the consumers wallet are actually trumping MORALS in this country.

What is it going to take??? The clergy talking about the morality of money?
"Thou shall not spend your money immorally"

This doesn't happen... because there is a COMPLETE disconnect between personal morality and how you use your money.
You post well; but you are forgetting that morals (and morality) are personal
values. There are no two people-let alone a whole society- who can claim that they have the same (or better yet The PERFECT) set of morals. At best we can say is we have similair views.
I do not think of going to the grocery store as an exercise in morality- mine or others- as long as I am not bouncing a check; or watching or participating in shoplifting. My only concern is to purchase items and sundries that are needed in my home-that's it. If we were to indulge in this extraneous thought;how could we purchase fresh produce? Do farmers not use insecticides to protect the crops they grow? Not everything can or will be grown in a hothouse.Are insecticides all environment-friendly? Are farmers bad people to use them in order to grow crops?
I think morality is best left to the individual to define for themselves. Obviously, society will always have input; but we must draw a distinction between morally good, and illegal (and thus bad)behavior.
The robust economy you speak of is only such because of the freedoms we enjoy.I really don't think the clergy will (or could) change this. We must define our own sets of values. Mine will never be the same as everyone else's;nor do I expect the reverse to be true.I may be obtuse to say this, but if I should make money legally; I will sleep the sleep of the just.



Yes, I would prefer a social democracy where the very basic needs are taken care of like: health, education, maturnity leave, vacation leave and retirement. To make our society as strong as possible the above should be viewed as basic human rights.
Past that the open market as it is would work great as long as people understood the moral choices they make with their money.



I see absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work in America considering we supposedly have the most robust economy in the world. The only hinder is the budget we allot our military. One could argue (and very sucessfully at that) that places with social democracies actually offer MORE personal freedoms than we have here in the states.



YES! This is what I was getting at but forgot to mention directly. Every purchase you make from a company at every store should have that personal sense of morality attached. Buy lightbulbs from a company that has a crap environmental stance??? Then you are a part of that immorality as well.



YES!!! Put your money on the cold medicine company that you feel behaves in the most moral way possible, using natural ingredients, treating their employees with respect, etc. I do this with EVERY item I purchase. If there is a more sound alternative I give them my money.




Absolutely not! As I stated I think most Americans are good hearted people. All you have to do is think of yourself in the capitalist chain of events and see how your money is negatively impacting the world around you. Some simple changes in the way you spend your dough would go an incredibly long way especially if we all banded together and had a sense of morality in regards to our money.