Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
Matthew 14:13-21 HTML0
13When Jesus learned what had occurred, He retreated by boat to a quiet place. Hearing this, the crowds from the towns followed Him by foot. 14 When Jesus saw the large crowd and landed, He felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, His disciples walked up to Him, saying, “This place is remote, and it’s getting late.” Send them away so that they can buy food in the villages.”
16Jesus responded, “They don’t need to leave.” You give them food.”
17 “We only have five loaves of sourdough bread and two small fish,” the answer was. 18 “Bring them to me,” said he.
19He told the people to sit on the grass. Looking up at the heavens, he took the five loaves of bread and the two pieces of fish. He then broke them and gave thanks. He then gave them to his disciples and they gave them out to the people.
20They were all satisfied and picked up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces.
21 The number of people who ate consisted of about five thousand men in addition to women and children.
Why Sunday School Lesson
I was raised Southern Baptist. You may have heard the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand if you were raised in church. The crowd had gathered for him to speak and had no food as the evening approached. Jesus did not send them away to fend on their own, but instead turned five loaves of bread and two fish into food enough to feed the huge crowd.
JC was a capitalism before it was cool. (And man, I hope that this statement isn’t sacrilegious). To the surprise of his disciples, Our Lord and Savior transformed finite food (capital) to exponential wealth. How does this relate with wealth creation?
We often compare household wealth to a pizza where the richest percentile in a country holds the majority of its wealth.
How can we fix this wealth disparity? Take some money from blue section and give to orange and grey section:
Bam! The wealth controlled by the top percentile falls by 20 points while the middle and poorest groups each increase by 10 points. Everyone is happy and the world has improved, right? Many politicians hold this view, but they are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of money and wealth. Money is not a zero sum game. It’s actually a game with a positive outcome.
What is a positive-sum game?
In a game with a zero sum, the total resources remain static. Imagine buying one pizza at Domino’s. No matter how many slices you make, whether it’s 12 or 8, or even 4 – the pizza will still be delicious. A single slice can be up to three times larger than the rest. You get the same amount of pizza no matter which way you slice it. In a zero sum environment, resources will have to be reallocated to one group from another to help the bottom group improve. Perhaps the smaller cohort will outperform the larger one and get a bigger share of the pie. Perhaps progressive taxes can be used to redistribute wealth. Whatever the method, it would be necessary to move money to improve the status of the bottom group.
It’s a good thing that wealth has a positive sum. What is the most obvious proof? US Gross Domestic Products (GDP). The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the value of the goods and services that are produced in any given country at a particular time. This graph has always been skewed to the right.
The GDP graph seems to contradict reports about wealth inequality in the United States today. While the GDP has been steadily increasing, the wealth gap in America appears to be its largest ever. In 1968, 43% of US income was generated by the top 20% households. Today, the top 20% of households generate 52% of the national income. 1/5 of the population earns more than 4/5. That’s horrible. Right? Let’s compare absolute pie size instead of comparing only percentages of total wealth.
Here’s the Domino’s pizza size chart: The pizza size chart is from the Domino’s site:
In 1950, the US economy was about as big as a personal pizza of 6″. In 1950, the US economy was a 6″ personal pizza. The top 20% of Americans controlled less than half this pizza. In 2021 we will have a 15″ extra large meat-lovers’ pizza that has all the goodies.
The xtra-large pizza has a total area of 176.71″. In 1968, only the top 20% of US homes controlled the 12.16″ of pizza (43%), and the bottom 80% controlled the 16.11″.
In 2021, the top 20% of US homes will control 91.89 inches of pizza (52%), while the bottom 80% will control 84.82 inches (48%). Our grandparents had a larger portion of a much smaller pie. Nobody talks about the absolute increase in wealth for Joe Average. We may have a smaller percentage of wealth, but we still own 5,25x as much pizza.
If you’re middle class or even lower in America, you have probably luxuries previous generations could only dream of. Electricity. A refrigerator. Even if the vehicle is an old clunker, it’s still a refrigerator. Internet and cell phones, which were not even available in the past. You can travel anywhere if you’re middle class and live within your means.
Look, I’m not sure anyone needs $200B. *cough* Bezos. If we looked at the progress of living standards over the past 50 years and not the lives of the billionaires, we might be able to see how well we are doing.
Capitalism for Baby
The products we use to generate wealth are created by the movers and shakers of private markets. More ways than ever to earn money are available. There are “traditional” jobs at large companies. We work for start-ups. Creators of content. Remote work has opened up opportunities never seen before. This optionality has allowed the pizza to grow.
Due to the competition on the job market and the vast array of options available, employees have also seen their wages rise. Employers have to pay more to retain talent when workers have choices.
Now we have more than ever before jobs. Many products are now cheaper and offer better wages. While companies pay higher wages to attract employees, their products must be cheaper to attract customers. TVs cost thousands of dollars in the past. You can now get a good flat screen for only $150. Air conditioning isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a basic right. Electric cars will be cheaper in the near future than gasoline-powered vehicles.
Everyone will have more disposable income if they can choose between higher wages and lower costs. More expendable income = one massive pizza.
The biggest winners are the ones who will profit the most. If I can get anything I want delivered in just 12 hours to my home, then why should I be concerned if Bezos has more money than I do? His service made life so much easier. The shareholders in these huge businesses generate unfathomable wealth. Their success doesn’t come at everyone else’s expense. The entire pizza is getting bigger.
