crimes against humanity

Some strong words here from E F Shumacher on economic priorities. It really resonates with me as a christian, though Shumacher is actually applying the principles of Buddhism to his economic theory. I don't think we've even begun to work out how to genuinely live as Christians in our current economic system. There are ways to live differently as real communities that we haven't explored at all.

“If greed were not the master of modern man - ably assited by envy - how could it be that the frenzy of economism does not abate as higher ‘standards of living’ are attained, and that it is precisely the richest societies which pursue their economic advantage with the greatest ruthlessness? How could we explain the almost universal refusal on the part of the rich societies to work towards the humanisation of work?
That soul destroying, meaningless, mechanical, monotonous, moronic work is an insult to human nature which must necessarily and inevitably produce either escapism or aggression, and that no amount of ‘bread and circuses’ can compensate for the damage done - these are facts which are neither denied nor acknowledged but are met with an unbreakable conspiracy of silence - because to deny them would be too obviously absurd and to acknowledge them would condemn the central preoccupation of modern society as a crime against humanity.”

E F Shumacher, Small is Beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered, p24