Category: Commentary

Here are some more short videos on relevant and timely topics.  They include:

–Excerpts from the Way to Wealth

–Pricing in Capitalism

–Human Resources and Capitalism

–The Cuban Economy

–The Irrational Exuberance of the Market

–The Intersection of Technology and Capitalism

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Last Thursday, I shared with you some thoughts on President Trump’s personality structure as he presents himself.

Conveniently, a few days ago, he gave a long interview to reporters from the New York Times which provides us with direct access to his framing of words and thoughts.  Of note was his insistence that he is free to do anything he wants.

Asked if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing.  My own morality.  My own mind.  It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Giving us another insight into what regulates his decision making, when asked why he needed to “own” Greenland, Trump said, “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with [when] you’re talking about a lease or a treaty.  Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

We might now ask how far a person who needs to “own” the world around him to feel secure is likely to be a responsible holder of a public trust with its many fiduciary duties of due care for others and its demand for a loyalty to something higher than oneself.

From the standpoint of believing in the advantages and justifications of principled leadership, President Trump’s recent escapade intruding into the domestic affairs of Venezuela seems misguided.

I have considered that the efforts of the Caux Round Table to promote a moral capitalism and moral government were very much in harmony with the conviction of George Washington that:

“There is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity.”

Interest and virtue can coincide, but it is up to us to bring about that coincidence.

I offer, for your consideration, more of my thoughts here.

Sincerely yours,

Stephen B. Young
Global Executive Director
Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism

With my daughter and her two daughters, I attended the Christmas Eve service and carol singing at the Congregational Church in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.  The church was founded in 1721.  Listening to the Gospel readings on the birth of the baby Jesus and singing the old familiar carols, I found my mind spontaneously unfolding in a new direction, most likely responding to reactions on our new world order of wars – combat and trade – and more craven submission to the will of the strong and the domineering.

The message of Christmas Eve presented to us was most traditional, in keeping with my memories of Unitarian Christmas Eve services in decades past: God sent Jesus to be our savior; God’s word was thus made flesh; his will was incarnated in human form.  Our role in the service and in life – like that of the shepherds invited by the angels to go and worship the newborn babe and the wise men delegated to bringing him incense and myrrh – was to celebrate Jesus’ power, goodness and glory.

Part of me started to ask: how will Christ bring peace to Ukraine and Gaza?

Is that his job or is it ours?

After all, we have agency.  After all, our flesh is not forbidden from internalizing the Word of God and also making it present in our human form.

In his grace, the God of Jesus has also enabled us to receive his gift in ourselves.  With our power, our grace, we can be the peacemakers.  We can accept, at any time, responsibility and act. God is waiting for us to step up.  He has made it possible for us to make things right.

Something of God has been incarnated in each of us – but can we find that within ourselves?

The Christmas carols affirmed: “So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven; Christ enter in and be born in us this day” (“O Little Town of Bethlehem”); “Let every heart prepare him room” (“Joy to the World”).

As Rabbi Hillel asked: “If not us, then who?”

Christianity is not alone in its expectations that we, ourselves, must serve and do what is right.

The Buddha taught us to keep to the middle path and be righteous.  His Noble Eightfold Path, open to us at any time upon our opening ourselves up to possibility, is: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

Qur’an reveals that each of us was born invested with the breath of God in order that we serve as his khalifa – steward – in his creation.  As God is merciful and compassionate, so too are we made also to be merciful and compassionate.

Confucius was certain that, “To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.”  He added that, “A person with inner quality thinks of virtue; the small-minded person thinks of selfish advantage.”

Singer Bonnie Raitt put it this way in one of her songs:

You step out on the track in the pourin’ rain.
And when you get run over, well, you blame the train.
… And don’t you think that you had enough?  Ain’t it time to get a different view?
Can’t just wait around for what you want, it’s all about the way you choose.
Ain’t nobody else that can make things right.
Baby, it’s down to you.

So, please celebrate not just the story of the baby Jesus, but your story – the story of your grace bestowed upon you to make this a better world, the good news of how you will employ your goodwill to bring about more peace on this earth.

Sincerely yours and Happy New Year,

A few days ago, I listened to President Trump’s speech to the American people.  I thought he was trying too hard to make a sale.

I then reflected, but only very briefly, on the Caux Round table’s advocacy of “discourse” as a fundamental moral parameter for good public governance.  With Trump’s speech in mind, I wondered if we need to add to our recommendation more definition.  Just what is moral discourse?

As a child, I heard the common American saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute” or “There’s one born every minute.”  In junior high school, I think, I first read Mark Twain’s allegorical novel about Americans – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I took it as a call to be self-reliant and curious, but also as a warning to always be on your guard.

The novel has Huck Finn and his friend, Jim, run into two traveling salesmen, who it quickly becomes clear are con men profiting from duping the kind and the decent – but gullible – among us.

One presents himself and performs as the king of France, the pretender to the throne and his sidekick passes himself off as the duke of Bridgewater.  The king is persuasive, smooth-talking and opportunistic.  He sells The Royal Nonesuch (a fake theatrical performance which will come to town) and the Wilks inheritance, where he pretends to be an English heir selling a false claim to an estate.

Twain uses these satirical fictional characters to expose gullibility, greed and moral blindness on the part of naïve and well-intentioned, small-town and provincial Americans.

In real life, there was P.T. Barnum, who ran a traveling circus going from town to town making money by selling entertaining acts and the chance to see unusual animals.  He is remembered for advising: “Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public” and “No one in this world…has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”

In the December 19 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Joseph Eptsein published his assessment of Donald Trump as very much in this American tradition of traveling salesmen, who might be just con men.  Epstein’s take on Trump is that he is a slick salesman with big claims and few deliverables.

Here are excerpts from Epstein’s essay:

President Trump’s recent commercials for Trump wristwatches have caught my attention.  In one commercial, three watches are shown, one with a red face between the other two.  All three have the name Trump on them.  Mr. Trump wears the red-faced watch and urges us to buy one, which, along with putting money in his pocket, would show support for him and his movement.

I don’t know for certain if a president’s selling his own merchandise is unprecedented, but it strikes me as extraordinary.  A billionaire, he surely doesn’t need the money.  What I suspect he does need is the action.  A real estate man, builder though he has been, he is also a salesman.  My guess is that it’s through selling, closing the deal, that he gets his true kicks.

Mr. Trump seems to me a particular kind of salesman – the kind once known as a “borax man.” In the Chicago of my youth, a borax man was an especially slick salesman, aggressive and relentless, usually specializing in home-improvement products.  These improvements didn’t improve anywhere near so thoroughly as the borax man promised.  The term derives from the white crystalline powder used in cleaning, soldering, glass making and in pesticides, which in centuries past was sold as a cure-all.  Soon it came to mean tawdry and second-class goods. …

Mr. Trump has been called a fascist, an authoritarian, a dictator and more.  None of these terms has seemed to me anywhere near a good fit.  All are too elevated.  Mr. Trump, not the most learned of men, may never have even heard of some of these words before he was called them.  A borax man seems a finer, near-perfect fit.

As a borax man, Donald Trump is attempting to sell the greatest of all products: the promise to return America to its former greatness.  Like all borax men, he doesn’t really deliver the product.…

Like the good borax man that he is, Mr. Trump is always congratulating himself, telling Americans about all the good things he has done for them – with lots more on the way.  My father used to say that a salesman first has to sell himself.  Mr. Trump attempts to do this, hiring only cabinet members who will flatter him, over and over again telling us of all the wars he’s stopped, the economic growth he’s caused, the crime he’s prevented.  Boraxian.

I find it helpful to think of our president as a slick and aggressive salesman.  His modus operandi generally is better understood when he is so considered.  His claims are more easily examined and, often necessarily, refuted when understood as coming from a high-pressure salesman.  Doing so also clears away, at least for me, any remaining aspects of Trump derangement syndrome.  I intend to view him as the ultimate borax man for the remainder of his time in office and I invite you to do likewise.

The misuse of taxpayer’s money, a form of theft, by many in the Somali community and others who masterminded fraudulent diversions of public funds, is a Minnesota governance scandal and abuse of private power.  Guilt belongs on those who wrongfully diverted the public monies and those in government who stood by in silence and apathy while the theft continued.

A moral question has been raised, asking if it is uncalled for racism or malign bias, based on nationality or religion, to ask that culpable immigrants be called to public account for their actions?

If those asked to account for their behavior in the misuse of public funds are Somali Muslims, the answer is clear: such theft violated Qur’anic standards for righteous conduct on the part of faithful Muslims.

First, let’s consider the Qur’anic prohibition of “corruption.”

“Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, nor use it to bribe authorities to sinfully consume part of others’ wealth.” (2:188)

“O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah.” (4:135)

“Allah does not love those who spread corruption (2:205) and promises severe retribution for the unjust.” (2:279)

“Who break the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which Allah has ordered to be joined and cause corruption on earth.  It is those who are the losers.” (2:27)

“O you who have believed, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent.” (4:29)

“Give just measure and defraud none … do not cheat your fellow men of what is rightly theirs; nor shall you corrupt the land with evil.” (26:183)

In the Qur’an, the word usually translated as “corruption” is fasād, which comes from a root word meaning to spoil, ruin, decay, become disordered, go bad or act wickedly.  Depending on context, fasād can refer to: moral corruption – wrongdoing, injustice, oppression, spreading vice; social and political disorder – destabilizing society, rebellion, civil strife, breaking public order. Environmental destruction – harming the earth, wasting resources, causing ecological imbalance; economic injustice – cheating, fraud, usury, exploitation.

Thus, in the Qur’an, “corruption” (fasād) is a comprehensive term meaning: any act that damages moral integrity, social harmony, justice or the natural world.  Those who commit fasād, no matter their race, ethnicity or gender, are culpable of wrongdoing and may be justifiably called out in public to account for their transgressions.  If they are Muslim, their claim that others owe them acquiescence with regard to their wrongdoing is absurd.

The Qur’anic standard of rectitude derives from Abrahamic religious values.  Thus, the Ten Commandments demand that “thou shall not steal.”  Jesus said: “You know the commandments: You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal…” (Mark 10:19 (cf. Matthew 19:18)  “Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15)  “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: theft, murder, adultery…” (Mark 7:21–23)

Secular American law has always criminalized theft.

Thus, Qur’anic guidance for Somali Muslim immigrants to America largely tracks American standards of virtue, making it quite easy for Somali immigrants to assimilate to traditional American standards of justice and fairplay, even though those standards were originally more Christian and secular than Islamic.

In addition, Qur’an records that Allah created all human persons – men and women equally – to be his stewards in creation – khalifa.  Thus, from a Muslim standpoint, every person born has fiduciary responsibilities to do right in benefiting God’s creation, just as God has instructed.

Those who steal, commit fraud and/or pervert the laws and the course of justice are not stewards, but rather self-seeking abusers of their God-given powers and talents.

For me, it is the solemn responsibility of Somali imams to conscientiously instruct their community in the correct behaviors expected of khalifas, just as I expect rabbis, Catholic priests and Protestant pastors to instruct those of their respective religions in the teachings of the Ten Commandments and Jesus.

There is a worrisome quality about Donald Trump’s temperament which is drawing attention.  To me, his incivility is also driving his new, isolationist, beggar-thy-neighbor national security strategy, as I argue here.

In concordance with the World Bank’s “World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society and Behavior” on the foundation for economic wealth creation lying in social and human capitals, the Caux Round Table has been advocating a wholistic approach to enhancement of global standards of living – start with human and social capitals – living out values and ethics, if you will – in order to build financial and economic capitals – property derived from the wise use of life and liberty.

The U.S., in recent decades, may have turned off the road leading to future social and economic happiness by not developing human and social capitals for its citizens and its economy.

Former Senator Ben Sasse made this damning assessment of public education, at least in California, in the Wall Street Journal.

I read these comments with alarm:

The number of freshmen entering the University of California San Diego (USCD) whose math skills fall below a high-school level has increased nearly 30-fold over the past five years, according to a shocking new report from the university’s Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions.  Worse still, one in 12 entering freshmen have math skills below middle-school levels.  That means college students might struggle with questions such as this: “7+2=6+__?”  Or this: “Sarah had nine pennies and nine dimes. How many coins did she have in all?”

The UCSD revelation likely means the U.S. has millions of recent high school graduates and 20-somethings who are unprepared to navigate modern work and life and lack the logical problem-solving skills with which algebra has traditionally armed adolescents.

But it gets worse: The students admitted to UCSD were, on average, receiving “A” grades in high school math classes that supposedly built multiple years beyond algebraic and arithmetic foundations.  This was a fraud.  High schools have clearly been inflating grades beyond what many students earned or deserved.  How could schools do such a disservice to taxpayers and more important, to these students?

What now is to be done?

This past weekend, Pope Leo XIV visited Lebanon.  His remarks, to me, captured the grace of concern for others with which the Prophet Muhammad framed his covenants to respect and protect Christians and Jews.  I, myself, perceive a resonance between the Pope’s vision for humanity and of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation and the texts of those historic Islamic covenants, promises given in the name of Allah.

The Caux Round Table, for five years now, has done its best to study carefully, with leadership from our Muslim colleagues, the historicity of the Prophet’s covenants and to then bring the best scholarship on the covenants to wider audiences, especially in Lebanon and in the Vatican.

I quote for you here the relevant thoughts of Pope Leo:

It is in light of this authority that I wish to address to you the words of Jesus that have been chosen as the central theme of my journey: “Blessed are the peacemakers!” (Mt 5:9). …

Your resilience is an essential characteristic of authentic peacemakers, for the work of peace is indeed a continuous starting anew.  Moreover, the commitment and love for peace know no fear in the face of apparent defeat, are not daunted by disappointment, but look ahead, welcoming and embracing all situations with hope.  It takes tenacity to build peace; it takes perseverance to protect and nurture life. …

May you speak just one language, namely the language of hope that, by always starting afresh, draws everyone together.  May the desire to live and grow in unity as a people create a polyphonic voice out of each group. …

This brings us to a second characteristic of peacemakers.  Not only do they know how to start over, but they do so first and foremost along the arduous path of reconciliation.  Indeed, there are personal and collective wounds that take many years, sometimes entire generations, to heal.  If they are not treated, if we do not work, for example, to heal memories, to bring together those who have suffered wrongs and injustice, it is difficult to journey towards peace.  We would remain stuck, each imprisoned by our own pain and our own way of thinking.  The truth, on the other hand, can only be honored through encountering one another.  Each of us sees a part of the truth, knowing one aspect of it, but we cannot negate what only the other knows, what only the other sees.  Truth and reconciliation only ever grow together, whether in a family, between different communities and the various people of a country or between nations. …

At the same time, there can be no lasting reconciliation without a common goal or openness towards a future in which good prevails over the evils that have been suffered or inflicted in the past or the present.  A culture of reconciliation, therefore, does not arise only from below, from the willingness and courage of a few.  It also needs authorities and institutions that recognize the common good as superior to the particular.  The common good is more than the sum of many interests, for it draws together everyone’s goals as closely as possible, directing them in such a way that everyone will have more than if they were to move forward by themselves.  Indeed, peace is much more than a mere balance – which is always precarious – among those who live separately while under the same roof.  Peace is knowing how to live together, in communion, as reconciled people. …

Finally, I would like to outline a third characteristic of those who strive for peace.  Even when it requires sacrifice, peacemakers dare to persevere.

In remarks to a gathering of religious leaders of many faiths, Pope Leo said:

In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, signed here in Beirut in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that “[t]he Church’s universal nature and vocation require that she engage in dialogue with the members of other religions.  In the Middle East, this dialogue is based on the spiritual and historical bonds uniting Christians to Jews and Muslims. It is a dialogue which is not primarily dictated by pragmatic, political or social considerations, but by underlying theological concerns which have to do with faith” (n. 19).  Dear friends, your presence here today, in this remarkable place where minarets and church bell towers stand side by side, yet both reach skyward, testifies to the enduring faith of this land and the steadfast devotion of its people to the one God.  Here in this beloved land, may every bell toll, every adhān, every call to prayer blend into a single, soaring hymn – not only to glorify the merciful Creator of heaven and earth, but also to lift a heartfelt prayer for the divine gift of peace. …

Yet, in the midst of these struggles, a sense of hopefulness and encouragement can be found when we focus on what unites us: our common humanity and our belief in a God of love and mercy.  In an age when coexistence can seem like a distant dream, the people of Lebanon, while embracing different religions, stand as a powerful reminder that fear, distrust and prejudice do not have the final word and that unity, reconciliation and peace are possible.  It is a mission that remains unchanged throughout the history of this beloved land: to bear witness to the enduring truth that Christians, Muslims, Druze and countless others can live together and build a country united by respect and dialogue.

May we all be peacemakers.

Here is another thought experiment about what we can expect from our times as stimulated by Hexagram 53 in the Yijing (Book of Changes).