Wrestling with Inaction

According to Globalrichlist.org…

$1300.00 per year would place you in the top 50.11% of income earners in the world.

$13,000.00 would place you in the top 11.62%

$20,000.00 would place you in the top 3.65%

$75,000.00 would place you in the top .11% (only 6,645,708 people in the world are wealthier)

$150,000.00 top .06% (only 3,457.946 are wealthier)

$174,000.00 (Pay for one Congressmen)  0.05% (only 3,006,534 are wealthier)

$500,000.00 0.02% (only 1,111,734 are wealthier)

$900,000.00 0.01%  (only 638,859 are wealthier)

Finally, a minister who will confront our wealth!  In the Episcopal Church, the practice is for the priest to preach the sermon on the Old Testament, New Testament or Gospel reading for that particular day.   On this Sunday, October 11, 2015, Mark 10:17-31 is the tract from the Gospel.  In this reading, Jesus confronts what is perhaps the greatest challenge to Christians in the United States.  A rich man famously asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and Jesus eventually replies, “…go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor….” I have heard this story on numerous Sundays and usually left disappointed that the person giving the Sermon would take a timid approach to this lesson if he or she would talk about it at all. On this particular Sunday, 10/11/15, the Reverend Corky Carlisle points out that everyone in this congregation is wealthy.  One could feel a sense of unease in the congregation.  He cites globalrichlist.com where data on a citizen of the world who makes $1,300.00 reveals this person to be among the top 50.11% globally.   He goes on to state that $13,000.00 a year puts a global citizen in the top 12%.  The congregation, me included, squirms.  Fascinated, I go to this website later in the day and find that $20,000.00 a year would be in the top 4%.  An individual making $174,000.00, equal to that of a member of the US Congress, would be in the top 0.05%.  

The topic of individual wealth disturbs most of us in the US because our stubborn “pursuit of happiness” has financial ramifications that are at the core of our “exceptionalism.”  In this country, median household income as cited by the U.S. Census Bureau was $51,000.00 in 2014(in the top 0.29% in the world according to globalrichlist.com).  Yes, many would argue that the cost of living and life style expectations adjust the definition of poverty. Given the political focus on income inequality and the astronomical incomes of those in the “top 1%” in the United States, it seemingly makes annual global income more abstract and irrelevant to the economic circumstances in this country.   Such data also provides political fodder for those decrying “class warfare” when people dare question the salaries of executives or investment bankers as opposed to basic laborers.  “People are doing fine in the U.S.,” some might argue.  Most have cars, TVs, appliances etc. 

In his New York Times op-ed. piece,  “The Most Important Thing, and It’s Almost a Secret”, William Kristoff writes that the world has actually witnessed a dramatic fall in poverty and birth rates.  He uses data from http://iresearch.worldbank.org to argue that there is actually hope in a world where political factions use income inequality to divide us while presenting poverty as intractable.  However, Kristoff uses dramatic worldwide reductions in extreme poverty, those earning under $1.25 per day (That would be $456.25 per annum which, being so low, I could not get to register on the globalrichlist.com calculator), as his evidence that poverty is declining and income inequality is lessening.  Although Kristoff’s premise seems hopeful his treatise does not begin to address impoverished living conditions of those who make $1,300.00 per year or the stressors this places on the world at large.   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an individual in this country under 65 who makes $12,316.00 is impoverished (the top 14% worldwide according to globalrichlist.com).  I would dare say that the vast majority of those sitting in the congregation on this Sunday could not comprehend living on $12,000.00 per year. $1300.00 per year would be unconscionable.  This simply illustrates that poverty is relative and despite Kristoff's claims, the reduction in extreme poverty might not indicate a potential eradication of financial want.

Some would use U.S. poverty statistics, when compared to the rest of the world, as proof that income inequality is merely a phrase to exaggerate the state of the poor in this country.  However, I would argue that the numbers cited above actually exacerbate the economic realities we face when addressing quality of life and global resource management.   While Kristoff acknowledges that things are tough for many in our world, he argues that the reduction in severe poverty is evidence that the condition of humankind is improving.  What he does not address is that those of us with wealth refuse to see the global ramifications of continued hoarding of resources. When just over 3,000,000 individuals around the world earn over $174,000.00 while 3.5 billion make less than $1300.00 per year the concept of inequality becomes a profound understatement. 

Jesus’ teaching about wealth challenges the current form of global capitalism at its core.  The Reverend Carlisle made this very clear.  Our ongoing self-denial in regard to obscene abundance in a world where millions of individuals die of starvation promotes a global socio-economic dystopia.   In this lesson from Mark Jesus makes two very profound points:  First, there are more important things in this world than individual wealth and two, God can forgive the human incapacity to let go of material possessions.  Moreover, the call for the rich man to let it all go might just mean that we have an obligation to take action before expecting God to forgive our materialistic insecurity.

Although statistics show me to be very wealthy, I allow the cultural mythology of American consumerism to make me feel financially insecure.  We have so much and we tell ourselves it is never enough.  It is in our cultural DNA to feel inadequate through a commercial narrative that hammers this home through every form of media.  This ironically causes us to retreat to ourselves while protecting our property from others.   This profoundly drives home Jesus’ claim that …”it is easier for a camel to move through the eye of a needle.”  I then take his statement that “in God all things are possible” as a salve to forgive my wanton materialism as a rationalization for my current economic state.  In other words I hope William Kristoff's reading of the global economic tea leaves is God pushing me through that needle's eye.

On my 8 mile journey to and from work I witness most socio-economic levels evident in our country, from homelessness to profound wealth, while my comfortable car keeps me apart from interaction.    Perhaps the greatest consequence of our economic strata is our profound isolation caused by misappropriated goods and resources.   Jesus calls the rich man to engage and Mark tells us he walked away.   Every day I drive to and from work Jesus calls me to engage and, too often, I walk away.