This document summarizes the key arguments from the book "Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution Not the Problem" by Jay W. Richards and David L. Johnson. It argues that capitalism is consistent with Christianity and refutes claims that capitalism is based on greed, exploits the poor, or will use up all resources. The summary outlines how capitalism has helped the poor more than welfare, how Christians helped invent banking and finance, and how capitalism promotes virtues like diligence and creativity.

1. Money, Greed, and God:
Why Capitalism is the Solution Not
the Problem
by Jay W. Richards
David L. Johnson, Ph.D.
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2. About the Author
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3. Table of Contents
 1. Is Capitalism or Socialism More Just?
 2. But Who Will Help the Poor?
 3. Does Capitalism Foster Unfair Competition?
 4. Does Capitalism Take from the Poor and Give to
the Rich?
 5. Is Capitalism Based on Greed?
 6. Has Christianity Always Opposed Capitalism?
 7. Does Capitalism Lead to an Ugly Consumerist
Culture?
 8. Will Capitalism Use Up All Our Resources?
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4. 1. Is Capitalism or Socialism More Just?
 Were the first century Christians communists?
 Acts 4:32-35 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,
and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had
everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was
not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold
them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it
was distributed to each as any had need.
 Key Differences
 Voluntary; no government confiscation
 No class warfare
 No hint that private property is immoral
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5. 1a. Socialism’s Record
 “Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant
that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it”-
Thomas Sowell
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6. 2. But Who Will Help the Poor?
 “Open your hand to the poor and needy
neighbor in your land” (Deuteronomy 15: 7-
11).
 “Those who oppress the poor insult their
Maker, but those who are kind to the needy
honor him” (Proverbs 14:29).
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7. 2a. Does Welfare Help the Poor?
The poverty rate had been declining before the war on poverty began,
dropping from 22% to 15% between 1959 and 1965
The poverty rate has continued to fluctuate
between 12 and 15% up to the present day
Great Society welfare
programs of Lyndon Johnson
in the mid-60s begin
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8. 2a1. Unintended Consequences of Welfare
 The best predictor of childhood poverty is being in a single-
parent household headed by a mother
 Studies show that a 10% increase in welfare benefits results in a
12% increase in out-of-wedlock births among low-income women
aged 14 to 22
 Since 1965, out-of-wedlock birth
rates have soared
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9. 2b. What about Welfare to Other
Countries?
 Rich countries have sent $2.3 trillion to poor
countries in the past 50 years
 Over half $1 trillion to Africa.
 Has not solved Third World poverty.
 Often wasted or used to prop up corrupt dictators
who keep their countries poor
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10. 2c. What Works to Help the Poor?
 Protect property rights
 Maintain rule of law
 Encourage economic freedom
 Encourage stable families
 Encourage the right cultural mores:
 Trust in and orientation to the future
 Willingness to delay gratification
 Diligence and thrift
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11. 3. Does Capitalism Foster Unfair
Competition?
 Trading Game for 20 students
Trade with No Trade with One Trade with Any
Student Student Student
Total Score 50 Total Score 75 Total Score 150
 Trading freely can add value, even though the
traded items remain physically unchanged.
 The more trading partners, the better.
 Free exchange is a win-win game.
 Capitalism is not a zero-sum game that requires a
winner and a loser
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12. 4. Does Capitalism Take from the Poor
and Give to the Rich?
 Poor households in U.S. according
to the Census Bureau
 40% own their own homes
 76% have air conditioning
 75% own a car
 97% of color TV  Poverty outside the U.S.
 78% have a VCR or DVD player  10 million children die of hunger and
 Only 6% of households are preventable diseases each year
overcrowded  Over one billion people live on less
than $1 a day
 800 million people go to bed hungry
every day
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13. 4a. Capitalism Creates More Wealth and a
Higher Life Expectancy
South Korea 2009
Tanzania 2009
Source: http://www.gapminder.org
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14. 4b. Wealth and Creativity
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15. 5. Is Capitalism Based on Greed?
 “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).
 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house;
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or
his male servant, or his female servant, or his
ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your
neighbor's” (Exodus 20:17).
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16. 5a. What did Adam Smith Say?
 Adam Smith in 1776 wrote An Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
 “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher,
the brewer or the baker that we expect our
dinner, but from their regard to their own
interest.”
 Does he mean greed?
 There is a difference between selfishness
and self-interest
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17. 5b. The Difference Between Self Interest
and Selfishness
 Self interest is not in itself immoral.
 Breathing, washing your hands, eating more fiber etc.
is pursuing self-interest.
 The Golden Rule promotes proper self-interest
 Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would
have them do to you; for this is law and the prophets”
(Matthew 7:12).
 Our self-interest also includes friends, families,
communities, coworkers, coreligionists and others.
 In contrast, socialism alienates people from their
rightful self interest
 It promotes selfishness like stealing, hoarding, and
government confiscation.
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18. 5c. Does Capitalism Feed Greed?
 No, studies show that capitalistic countries are more
generous
 Studies also show an inverse correlation between
taxation and giving
 The more you tax, the less the people give
 Therefore, the freer the economy, the more people give
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19. 5d. Why Is Capitalism More Generous?
 Capitalism discourages miserliness and encourages
enterprise
 Capitalism requires the following virtues:
 Must set aside capital, not consume like a glutton
 Must risk capital, not hoard it.
 Must trust people to work and trade, not be a skeptic
 Must anticipate the needs of others, not be self-absorbed
 Must be disciplined, not impetuous
 Must be creative, not an automaton
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20. 6. Has Christianity Always Opposed
Capitalism?
 Is working with money inherently immoral or charging interest on
money always exploitative?
 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with
you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a
sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or
profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.
You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your
food for profit” (Leviticus 25:35-37).
 "You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest
on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for
interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not
charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless
you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to
take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 23:19-20).
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21. 6a. Lending Versus Rescuing
 In ancient times most people
 Lived and traded within their extended families and tribes
 Trading was based on reciprocal needs
 Only a tiny minority had any excess money to lend
 Money was buried
 In modern times people
 Lived and traded outside their extended families and tribes
 No longer lent a few unproductive coins to poor kinsmen to buy
food.
 More people had excess money
 Money was put to work, assuming risk and charging for it:
 Banks made loans
 Insurance companies provided coverage
 Money lent for capital is different from money lent to a poor
neighbor out of need.
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22. 6b. Christians Helped Invent Capitalism
 Rodney Stark in the Victory of Reason: How
Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and
Western Success argues that finance and banking
were created by monasteries in northern Italy's city
states during 1100 and 1200 A.D.
 The monasteries through technological innovations, such
as water mills, windmills, wheeled plows, crop rotation, etc.
created surplus products to sell
 Surplus products were sold in distant cities
 Banking was needed to avoid carrying money (heavy to
transport and vulnerable to theft)
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23. 6c. What Jesus Said
 Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth
where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and
steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…for where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
 What counts here on earth is our relationship with Christ and
spread of the Gospel.
 Storing up is hoarding
 However, investing is not hoarding, but making money available to
other ventures
 Jesus said in the parable of the talents “Then you ought to have
invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should
have received what was my own with interest” (Matthew 25: 27).
 The parable implies that charging interest is acceptable.
 The first two servants were rewarded for investing their money
and putting it at risk.
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24. 7. Does Capitalism Lead to an Ugly
Consumerist Culture?
 The Bible condemns gluttony and warns about the dangers of
wealth and overindulgence
 “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and
slumber will clothe them with rags” (Proverbs 23:20-21).
 Gluttony is a problem of excess and not restraining our appetites.
 The Bible also frequently treats bounty as a sign of God's
blessing.
 The Old Testament mandated feast days
 Jesus enjoyed the occasional party, although He was
falsely accused of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke
7:34).
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25. 7a. Capitalism and Gluttony
 There is no evidence that a state controlled
economy makes citizens more virtuous.
 Every social ill in modern-day America (from
widespread abortion and alcoholism to family
breakdown) was much worse in statist and
communist countries.
 Capitalism promotes delayed gratification,
which is the opposite of gluttony.
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26. 8. Will Capitalism Use Up All Our
Resources?
 Some say that Christianity exploits nature by
citing this verse:
 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air and over every living
thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
 However, the Bible says that man has
dominion over nature, not that man should
dominate nature.
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27. 8a. Will Capitalism Use Up All of the Oil?
 Warnings are based on known oil reserves.
 Before, known oil reserves did not include deep ocean oil
or tar sands.
 Now, it is possible to extract that oil due to technological
improvements
 In 1980 economist Julian Simon made a famous bet
with biologist and environmentalist doomsayer Paul
Ehrlich.
 Simon publicly bet $1,000 that over the next 10 years, the
real prices of any five commodities would go down, not up.
 Ehrlich and his team took up the challenge and picked five
commodities, nickel, tin, tungsten, chromium, and copper.
 Ehrlich's team lost the bet. All five commodity prices went
down in the 80s.
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28. 8b. Doesn’t 20% of the Population Use
More Than 80% of the World's Energy?
 What is meant by 80% of the world's energy?
 The total available energy being produced AT
THE MOMENT.
 The total amount of energy used and unused
is unimaginably high.
 At any time we’re using only the tiniest fraction.
 There's a whole lot of uranium, sunlight, wind,
waves, and river currents that were not using for
energy.
 We don't even know how much oil there is.
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29. To Learn More
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