An Enormous Problem; One Plausible Solution

Isaiah 10:1-2 [Noble paraphrase] provides a scriptural perspective on the following editorial found in the September 26, 2018, Chrisitan Century, entitled, "Up markets down side":

"Woe to the rich who make unjust laws.  Woe to the rich who issue oppressive decrees.  Woe to the rich who deprive my poor of their rights.  Woe to the rich who withhold justice from the oppressed.  Woe to the rich who make defenseless widows and orphans their prey."

From the Christian Century, "Up Market's down side":

"Investors in the U.S. stock market are riding what some are calling the longest-running bull market ever seen in the American economy.  By some calculations, the market has been on the rise since March 9, 2009, and during that period it has created some $18 trillion in wealth.  Many Americans are celebrating this run, and over the past decade politicians of both parties have taken credit for it.

But the personal wealth created by the stock market is concentrated dramatically in the hands of the wealthiest households.  Of the $18 trillion created, 85 percent of it -- or about $15 trillion -- has gone to the richest 10 percent.  About half of all Americans have nothing at all invested in the market.  The median American household has 34 percent less wealth than it did before the Great Recession. . . ."

"A recent United Way study found that 43 percent of the households don't earn enough to cover the basics -- housing, food, child care, health care, transportation, and a mobile phone."

"One creative, market-based way to let more Americans share in the wealth is the creation of "social wealth funds," invested and managed by the government.  Each citizen is given a share and receives dividends as the value of the fund grows.  The People's Policy Project, which has extensively researched this concept, points out that a version of such a fund has operated for decades in Alaska, where each citizen gets a check from the Alaska permanent Fund based on the income the state earns from the sale and lease of its natural resources.  that form of sharing the wealth has the enthusiastic backing of virtually all Alaskans regardless of ideology or political party.  It's an approach that could be expanded and adapted for the whole country. . . ."

Is it time for the Babylonian Exile?