The Social Safety Net Is Not Enough

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Protestants believe charity should be done privately through churches and charities, not the government. The moment the government steps in, it's no longer a moral issue says Mr Cameron. We need to spend time and money supporting politicians that lead to better social safety net than we have now. Even adam smith was in favour of luxury taxes which would go toward paying poor relief 250 years ago.

In episode 162 of The Michael Shermer Show, Michael speaks with one of the nation’s preeminent experts on economic policy, Benjamin Friedman, about his new book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism — a major reassessment of the foundations of modern economic thinking that explores the profound influence of an until-now unrecognized force — religion.

Critics of contemporary economics complain that belief in free markets — among economists as well as many ordinary citizens — is a form of religion. And, it turns out, that in a deeper, more historically grounded sense there is something to that idea. Contrary to the conventional historical view of economics as an entirely secular product of the Enlightenment, Benjamin Friedman demonstrates that religion exerted a powerful influence from the outset.