Capitalism 'devastating' families, warns think tank

|PIC1|As Western governments struggle to agree global financial reforms, economist Dr Michael Schluter claims that widespread confidence in capitalism as the best available economic system has meant many of us have failed to recognise that it is one of the main drivers of social and moral breakdown in Western societies.

In the first of two new reports for the Jubilee Centre, the former World Bank consultant identifies five failings of corporate capitalism and challenges society to take seriously biblical teaching about credit and debt in its urgent search for a new economic order.

The five failings described are the exclusively materialistic vision of corporate capitalism, devoid of environmental or social context, its offer of rewards without responsibility, the limited liability of shareholders, which allows debts to go unpaid, the way in which it breaks the connection between people and place, and its inadequate social safeguards for the vulnerable.

The Jubilee Centre report concludes that although only people can be "morally bankrupt", corporate capitalism contributes significantly to the moral bankruptcy of Western societies and points forward to a succeeding report that will consider what an alternative system might look like.

For more than 25 years, the Jubilee Centre has explored whether there is a Christian-based alternative to socialism and capitalism and whether the Bible has anything distinctive to say about public policy beyond general goals such as stewardship and justice.

Dr Michael Schluter CBE, founder of the Jubilee Centre and the Keep Sunday Special Campaign, is now Chief Executive of Relationships Global, which is seeking to build an international movement of relational organisations. Dr Schluter formerly worked as an economic consultant for the World Bank and research fellow for the International Food Policy Research Institute.