Well-being as a society involves more than Dow index

Recently, a group of financial analysts lamented a sudden downturn in "the market." The analysts attributed the downturn to the uncertainty in the nation regarding the future leader of our country. One said, "if there is one thing 'the market' doesn't like, it's uncertainty."

We are accustomed to hearing references to how "the market" is "feeling" and to the sense that "the market" is somehow a living entity, moving and shifting somewhere beyond our reach. In economic courses this concept is often referred to as the "invisible hand" of the economy.

American society's sense of well-being seems to rise and fall with the push and pull of this omnipresent, sometimes seemingly fickle "hand."

Every day, indeed every hour, news sources update the activities of the market as if the NASDAQ and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are the only tangible measures by which we evaluate the state of our country.

The fact is, the regular reporting on the activity of the market fails even to provide a good measure of the real economic conditions facing many in our country. The status of farmers is a prime example.

Wisconsin is losing farms at a rate of three a day. Some farmland is being converted into commercial and residential use. Some farms are being consolidated under the ownership of large agricultural operators.

Many refer to these changes as "inevitable progress." Smaller farms that can't subsist under the record low prices of the market are weeded out to make room for bigger operations that can survive the fickle push and pull of the "invisible hand."

Our faith tradition calls us to a different view of the economy. The economy is not a distant force. It is a creation of people and it should function to serve people, not the other way around. In agriculture, the concentration of land ownership and the unrelenting focus on the bottom line compromise the health and welfare of individuals and the community and environment in which they live.

Our God calls us to serve, not the economy, but to serve him and one another by respecting human life and seeking the common good. Pope John Paul has called us to move beyond "economic development" to "authentic development."

How would we measure authentic development? Financial indicators are not enough. What if alongside the financial market reports we added a daily reporting on the number of uninsured children? Number of farms going out of business? What if the daily progress of our nation was measured by the number of parents participating in school activities or the number of people making a living wage? These indicators would begin to provide a clearer picture of the type of society we are building.

At a time when our state and country are experiencing record losses in the numbers of family owned and operated farms, it is urgent that we shed notions of inevitable economic progress and take on the task of promoting public policies that view the financial economy as one piece of the many pieces that contribute to the common good.

Sometimes, the easiest way to deal with a big problem is to lose heart and say that there is nothing we can do about it. As church, we believe in the invisible hand of our God very visibly at work through the hands of his disciples. It's not time to throw up our hands; it's time to roll up our sleeves.

(Markeland is associate director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the civil arm of the state's five diocesan bishops.)