For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
- Matthew 25:29
In context this comes out of a parable which Jesus told, and as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, which is a lesson about being a good steward of the resources (such as money, abilities, time, et cetera) that have been entrusted to you. In economics though, this verse describes two things, one relatively benign and one insidious.
The benign thing is that the rewards due to capital, will in the long run, outweigh any and all rewards due to labour. The reason for this is that anyone stupid enough to actually work to earn a living, will generally waste their money on stupid things like rent, food, clothing, utilities and what not. The actual economically sensible thing to do, is to choose to be homeless and never eat, thus avoiding all expenses and maximising that portion of one's income which is saved.
This is intolerable to most people though, who selfishly like to live inside and eat food occasionally.
The insidious thing, which is the darker and evil twin which always accompanies the first, is that the people who are in charge of capital and power, will enact policies to further entrench their cumulative advantage; by means of deliberately enacting policy in areas such as taxation, education, social dynamics including classist treatment, et cetera. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is not just a description of what is, but what must be, and what will be by policy.
The current brouhaha which has led to this year's almost annual US Government Shutdown, is almost entirely predicated upon the Republican Party's policy of saying vaguely Christian things while actively refusing to do anything that Christ actually said to do, and the Democratic Party's refusal to accept that Christianity is a thing while at the same time refusing to pass the budget unless it looks after the poor and the vulnerable and the widows and aliens.
This is also set against the general climate of wanting to blame immigrants for taking all the jobs, despite and in spite of large firms either making things overseas and/or importing cheap labour who are to insecure to complain about getting absolutely taken advantage of in terms of wages and conditions.
One of the most popular acts in this carnival of cruelty happens to revolve around a program called SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This is what used to be called in the olden days as "Food Stamps". The piece of theatre is that rich people have convinced people who work and are racist/cruel, that poor people are in fact the problem and that it is morally better if people starve. This is where fun maths comes in handy:
If the US economy is $1, then only 42 cents are paid as wages, and the bottom quintile of about 66 million people are all fighting over 1 cent. The 42 million people who actually do qualify for Food Stamps are collectively so poor that they are all fighting over half a cent.
But as the United States is a nation based upon the premise that some people are created more equal than others and that some people are morally worth less than 3/5ths of a person, then this is all the moral justification to yell at poor people all the more because it's their fault.
If we assume that the Democratic Party just surrenders and caves in to the Republican Party's demands, how long will it be before they cut all assistance payments and all health insurance payments for the poor?
We must assume that given that this was posted by Mr Trump on his Truth Social network, that that is the end plan:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115398251623299921
That is currently enacted policy as being played out. And to those 'Christians' who voted for Trump not once, not twice, but thrice - behold your god.
While the US Government is currently shut down, and President Trump has torn down the East Wing of the White House to build his own palatial ballroom, are to assume that he actually enjoys dreaming of pouring feces on demonstrators opposed to him?
If this weren't enough, he has the unfettered gall to demand that the American taxpayers give him $230 million for his personal grievances against the Justice Department because it investigated his crimes.
But do go on blaming poorer people because they are poor for whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them..
