The Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment, a Washington-based amalgam of left-liberal religious activists, has asked the U.S. Congress to reject ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Here’s a representative statement: “Religious leaders boldly stood with impoverished people and called today for sustainable development in Central America and respect for the integrity of Creation.” Some of our best friends are impoverished?
In this group’s statements, there’s scarcely an intelligible economic thought to be found or, for that matter, a practical understanding of what makes business part a functioning society that creates wealth not only for owners, but for workers, too.
Let’s turn the tables. How would these religious leaders respond to theological platitudes tossed at them from people who make their living in finance and industry? Imagine an economist trying to pass a graduate seminary exam with statements such as, “God loves us, that’s why” or, “We should all be nice to people.”
So, imagine a business person sitting in the pews on Sunday and the pastor hauls out the Interfaith Trade Group’s Statement on International Trade and Investment in lieu of a real sermon. This business person learns that the free economy has brought about “mounting global inequities” and “growing disparities and injustices” and we should be working for “distributive justice.” And so on.
A better way to prepare a sermon on the justice of trade would be to first absorb some real understanding. Maybe start by reading this analysis from the Dallas Fed which informs us that:
Entering into regional trade agreements has well-documented positive effects on participating nations, rich or poor, even though the impact on the United States would be lessened by the small market sizes of the DR-CAFTA countries. From the DR-CAFTA countries’ perspective, the agreement’s impact would be large. Even the most populous of these nations, Guatemala, has less than half as many people as the state of Texas. Moreover, despite what the habitual detractors of trade liberalization claim, there is much evidence that trade openings typically have positive effects on income per capita — generally including that of the poorest fifth of the population, even in developing countries.
Increasing the opportunities for trade is precisely what people of faith should be demanding for the impoverished. Unless we want the impoverished to stay that way.
Read Rev. Robert Sirico’s analysis of the Religious Left’s drive to derail CAFTA in “Unholy Opposition: A Moral Case for CAFTA” on National Review Online.
