Pop Goes the World

Is it just me or is the Men Without Hats song “pop goes the world” a potential theme for the last couple of weeks? Every time I turn on the radio or read an e-zine I’m constantly bombarded with the news that the financial markets have gone p p p p POP! and supposedly along with them the whole world. Of course the most preposterous event associated with this so called “melt down” is that George W. Bush is going to be the saviour of the world market by dumping 700 billion USD into the coffers of Wall Street to bail out the very people whose greed and avarice created the problem in the first place. Essentially he’s asking those who bear the burden of an imbalanced financial system to bail out those who profit from that same systemic imbalance. Don’t believe me, think about mortgage rates. Those who need a lower interest rate can’t get one because they’re a risk, while those who don’t need the break pay a much, much lower percentage and its those people who benefit the most from large corporate tax cuts and billion dollar bonus packages that created the current economic fiasco. Its amazing to me the way that we have institutionalized greed in North America while others around the world and in our own back yards pay the price. Just ponder these two comments from a CBC radio program on October 1, 2008: 700 Billion USD the proposed “bailout” – 30 Billion USD the total amount of cash aid sent to all of Africa; and that Canada had pledged 0.7% of its profits to foreign aid only to renege on it because our economy is growing too fast and people’s incomes are rising faster than expected. Perhaps its time to once again take up the call for a Jubilee.

If you look at Leviticus 25 you get an interesting picture of a real solution to the sub-prime bubble that’s burst in the US and that’s affecting global markets. Don’t bail out the rich and powerful elites of Wall Street – forgive the debt. I think 700 Billion USD is a wonderful solution – as long as its used in an appropriate manner and I’d suggest that there is nothing more just and appropriate than the biblical model of Jubilee. Instead of bailing out banks that have been making tens of millions if not hundreds of millions in profits over the last decade use that “bailout” fund to pay off the mortgages that are most at risk. Forgive the debt and give those who are most financially vulnerable some real help. Forgive the debt and create a new paradigm wherein people don’t have to choose between shelter and food. Create a new environment where children don’t have to go to school hungry. Establish a new way of looking at the role of government so that stress is reduced and people’s physical and mental health improves. In essence solve the current financial “crisis” by addressing the real issue instead of applying another Band-Aid and lining the pockets of those who need it least. At one level that’s what Jubilee is all about.

Of course why this might seem logical, its almost counter-intuitive and certainly we don’t hear any talk of this kind of solution, even during our own election campaign…”Pop goes the world.”