Grieving the Good of Others

On Monday, economist Victor Claar gave an interesting presentation at the American Enterprise Institute called Grieving the Good of Others. It focused on envy. Victor is co-author with Robin Klay of Economics in Christian Perspective. He has commented here a few times, and I had the privilege of writing the foreward to his book Fair Trade: Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution. You can follow his blog at Victor Claar's Economics Blog.

The description of the presentation says:

Critics of capitalism often argue that this economic system is irretrievably tainted by the sin of greed. They claim that by empowering government to "spread the wealth around" we can free ourselves from the tyranny of greed, purging the influence of sin. But are they right? At this event, Victor Claar, associate professor of economics at Henderson State University, will discuss the role of envy in collectivist and redistributive economic systems. Beginning with an explanation of the classic theological understanding of envy, Claar will argue that "grieving the good of others" is an unavoidable aspect of social democracy.

There is some really good stuff here. You can watch the video or listen to the audio by clicking here. Be warned that it is 1 hour and 50 minutes long but worth the time.