Different Perspective

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel

great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Amos 8:4-6

As we'll see later, having huge inequities, better known as things that aren't fair, isn't really good for the soul. Even so is having huge economic disparities roaming around through the land. Last time we'd addressed the various notions of sorts that enabled this thinking. It was a perspective of too little, not enough, just right, and a little too much. Not saying we'd be soon paid a visit by Goldilocks and the three little bears, but you know if the shoe fits why not just wear it I guess. Then again, Goldilocks herself had an issue before the end of the tale. I mean, who wouldn't with three baby bears of various sizes that had all made a nest in their beds. Poor Goldilocks, the human child, all alone and in desperate need of a second opinion of sorts. Perhaps the sage voice of wisdom quite would've helped. Remember, the story's told how too little, too much, and just right invaded her house and ate just about everything in sight. By the time they'd finished, poor Goldilocks had just had enough and it wasn't too much. We can't really blame her for feeling this way, can you at first? Let's say though some had by deceit or some other crooked sort of measures conspired together either for profit or gain. I can well imagine their frustration of waiting to sell again in the land. That doesn't excuse though their actions much later. Let's say they'd decided to fix prices by increasing them which would've also raised their margins for profit. You know, when you're selling grains and some wheat, you can either do one of two things. You can send them out to an outside supplier. This will distribute and sell and manage your profits abroad in the land. Let's say though this middle one is a dishonest of sorts. These could falsify records, keep the profits all for themselves, or fail to inform the sellers of such all for say a good pair of shoes. The other thing that happens though is when it's something you've labored for or quite possibly have grown. You could start feeling a bit too entitled, just like the men who'd worked for a penny at first, only to find themselves quite overcomes by the burden and heat of the day. Never mind the fact the penny was still quite a sizeable sum. Perhaps it was more than a shekel or less. It's really quite hard to tell as at first. Though when you think of it really, the shekel and the other values are based off their weight and the currency backing them, which is say the face value of coin. Caesar's coin, the penny was backed by his image. Though common, it was entirely valued by the rest of the people. The shekel though, made from the silver, was based off the weight and the silver prices too for what it's worth as the basest of metals. This too remained fixed, year after year, to prevent ravages like Goldilock's house from keep on occurring. Perhaps you'd call it having company over, whoever knows. Regardless though, it's wrong of a sort and the result is the same but of course. The poor and the needy are left utterly destitute and their own house besides after the three bears have already left. It's how it starts off with the little things that make up the rest. Where the Lord is despised and the rest too of the sort. These here can't wait for the times of religion and customs to be gone from the fold since the only thing left to them is the money and not their own people. It's what happens though with other things prized that money can't buy. Let's just say the health, fellowship, and everything else ought to be top-care from there. We're past caring about the time of the bears. Then again, there's another sort of opinion that's what happens when the measures and price fluctuate later. Either it can be done through an open market opinion as the price of one runs up all the rest of the fold while measures get scarcer and scarcer. The other thing that could've been was not allowing all this to have happened. Sure, it takes some foresight and sneakiness with an unloaded, more accurate of measure. Then again, you're have to have eyes on the skies, basically everywhere that's a market place really. That's where business licenses, like some places have, happens to help. That way it's everyone's problem. Then again, too much regulation can greatly hamper the poor of the land too of a sort. That's where selling the poor for silver and the needy for shoes comes from then at the last. It's like saying that really, people aren't worth all that much. There's times when these too can't afford the license and fees that come with registration and all those other regulations. A better way of doing it then, is installing balances at the point of sale so to speak whole fixing the currency at a set rate where manipulating the economy won't really happen. Then again, is selling the last of the crops as scrape then for food. It's not really fit at that point for consumption by human or any other creature. At this point, you'll have to install a valuing of human life later that's more than just profits engendered. Once more, there's that strange little words. It means in short, the profits obtained through this sort of a means. Next time, we'll look at how valuing human life happens to help.