The American Spectator

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The Public Policy

(Page 3 of 3)

OF COURSE, SOME COMPANIES BETTER value employees than others, both as human beings and as productive workers. Indeed, treating workers well typically is cost-effective, since doing so attracts better employees, reduces turnover, and so on. But the mere fact that a firm fires for economic reasons an employee it originally hired for economic reasons does not, in Colson's words, leave "people as disposable commodities and dehumanized."

In any case, the best response to fear of the latter is never to treat the economic realm as the be-all and end-all of life. It isn't. Our moral worth comes from being created in the image of God, whatever our economic skills. Family and community remain the most critical foundation of moral life.

Did Circuit City make the right decision in laying off 3,400 workers? It's impossible for me, or Chuck Colson, to say. But Circuit City had to act, lest the company face even more grievous problems in the future.

Moreover, though the firings were unpleasant and unfortunate, the workers had no moral claim to be paid above market wages. The firm had no more obligation to pay them more than the market "said" they were worth than they had a moral obligation to stay with Circuit City if it paid them less than the market "said" they were worth. A culture of "moral restraint," as Colson puts it, does not absolve employers and employees alike from having to make tough decisions in a competitive marketplace.

There's no Christian politics, whether right or left. Nor is there any Christian economics, whether capitalist or socialist. People should be moral because they are human beings, not because they are businessmen.

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Trade, Economics, Business, Environment, Energy