Feeling humiliated as a piece of property weaves through this Sunday’s readings. The Israelites feel humiliated as slaves in Egypt, owned as property. Unfortunately, these ex-slaves then conquer and humiliate other people as slaves in “the land of Canaan” and own them as property. Jesus highlights the feeling by telling a parable of a rich but prodigal son who, through his own foolishness, feels the humiliation of slaves and of most workers who are owned as property, “he found himself in dire need… (and) hired himself out to… tend swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the husks on which the swine fed.”
The slave system that humiliates people as property persists through Militarism and its capitalist system. Capitalism glorifies the plundering rich while it humiliates the working poor in its system of poverty, in its selectively criminalizing women in its prostitution system, in its prison system, by exploiting immigrants into forced labor, often in the agricultural, fishing, construction, and mineral industries. Militarism’s capitalist system also humiliates people as property in its taxation system. War Lords humiliated people into paying the War Lord protection money, aka taxes. Warlords did not use tax money gained to benefit the people. They used it to benefit themselves. For example, they bought more soldiers and built more roads upon which to march in more wars. That some tax money also helped the people, like roads, was incidental. Still today, citizen tax dollars are of little benefit to the people. Taxes are used by War Lords for their own housing, health care, transportation, office space and furnishings, as well as lucrative allowances while in office and lucrative pensions upon retirement. The rich like to complain about and seek to destroy the people’s social security, health care, housing, and food allotments. The rich humiliate the poor accusing them of being takers getting handouts from programs the rich falsely claim are an unjust redistribution of wealth to people who don’t deserve it. The true redistribution of wealth happens when the rich extract those very tax dollars from the people to pay for the rich class’ many benefits. Money is definitely redistributed in capitalism’s slave system; it is redistributed upward! Taxes have sometimes been used by the people to reform the military system – not, unfortunately, to end it. A current attempt at reform focuses on the richest having constructed the tax system so that they pay, on average, a 5% tax rate on purchases, usually on luxury items; third homes, private jets, yachts. Their system forces wage earners to pay, on average, an 11% tax rate, on needful items; food, soap, diapers. Guess which group pays no taxes at all on purchases they make hundreds of times every day? Rich stock owners. They pay no taxes when making stock purchases, which they do routinely, daily. Especially egregious is when rich stock owners make high frequency purchases. Professor Douglas Cliggott calls them ‘stock scalpers.’ Stock scalpers are helped by technology to see trading information seconds earlier than traditional investors. Traditional investors like those in charge of worker pension plans. The scalpers then sell that stock to the traditional investors at a higher price. The predators make their plunder from a capitalist system devised to prioritize property while it humiliates people.
The Wall Street Tax Act of 2019 proposes to tax the sale of stocks, bonds, and derivatives, at a paltry 0.1 percent. It is apparently a near humiliating prospect for the rich. Fox News and other capitalists say the tax “would be discouraging,” “scary,” “dubious,” it “poses a threat,” “it hurts rich people.” The tax would actually slightly reform – not unfortunately end, Militarism’s capitalist slave system in which still today people are humiliated as property like the prodigal son. Would that each owner ended their role in the system. Would that each owner affirmed the dignity of each worker and treated them as the father in the parable treated his son, “Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate together with a feast.”
Prayer: Spirit of Love, move us to love each other as family.
Question: How does my attitude about the economy help humiliate people or dignify them?
March 31, 2019 Gospel Luke 15:1-32 Fourth Sunday of Lent