To the Editor:
The world is an economic laboratory. The question of what system produces the most common good is open and should be subject to the rules of behavioral science. The current "system" is just the bantering about of prejudices. We must keep an open mind to see what works best for what.
Is the goal prosperity? To what extent? Is it possible for a nation to be too rich, when Jesus said (Luke 12) "Blessed are the poor." I think we in this country have had too much affluence and, as a result, have seen our moral fiber deteriorate. We are sybarites. I know that for 40 years there has been the greatest shift of wealth away from the poor and to the wealthy in the history of the universe. This is not acceptable either.
Finally, I don't know whether as a nation we have the moral fiber to withstand prolonged severe recession or great depression - as our grandparents survived in the 1930s.
But the nagging question remains, why do we want to be rich when Jesus said "Blessed are the poor"? Do we mean it when we say "God Bless America" or do we Just mean, "Make us rich"? This started as an objective statement about economics, and drifted off into moralizing, but maybe morality is an essential humanistic underpinning to all behavioral sciences.
Richard Kovac