The main purpose of the economy is not the present improvement of the “well-being” of individuals at the cost of ignoring the future. Nor is it to make a few overlords fabulously wealthy while everyone else begs for scraps. It is also not “Maximizing Shareholder Value” in an ever rising stock market casino.

According to the Orthodox Christian perspective of the Russian Church, the primary purpose of the economy is provide the means for citizens to form and support large, healthy families living in comfortable suburban settlements. Those of us who are both Christian, and conversant in economics, have been talking about the need for “family friendly” economic policies for years. Those policies were normally advocated for in the same kind of “shopping lists” quoted earlier – higher child tax credits, school choice, reduced inflation, lower property taxes. Some good ideas were put forward, but the “pro-family” faction was just one more interest group competing with immigrants, childless cat ladies, and the National Security State to get regulatory and legislative attention. Our disjointed wish lists, put together with no underlying theme really, almost always got pared down, ignored, or so reduced in scope as to be meaningless.

American families always end up as the last priority. There is always another war to fight. Another expensive fighter jet to acquire. Foreign aid to dole out. Corporate donors to pay off with public funds. Always something more important that leaves American families increasingly worse off than before. https://orthodoxreflections.com/economic-focus-on-the-family/