PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS March 31, 1980 Issue

Inflation's demands—and the supply of spiritual answers

Interview with a banker

Editor: To many people inflation seems tremendously complex and baffling because there are so many contributing factors. Some point to deficit spending, OPEC price increases, defense expenditures, overpopulation, underproduction, scarcity of resources, too much government interference in the free market. Is inflation an umbrella term for a number of distinct problems? Or is there some single underlying error that people could target metaphysically?

Banker: Yes, I think instead of trying to find all kinds of sophisticated definitions of inflation, the metaphysician can narrow it down. I would define inflation as an imbalance in the equation of demand and supply, an imbalance in which there is a confusion of wants with needs on the side of demand and an uncontrolled distribution of funds on the side of supply. In the United States, for one example, the Federal Reserve System opens or closes the taps that regulate the supply of money to the economy. It does so by controlling the creation of credit through the nation's commercial banks. Christian Science opens up a whole new perspective. It shows that the only real supply is Mind's unfluctuating provision of useful, productive ideas. This supply can never be artificial or excessive. It corresponds exactly with Mind's demand to be expressed. I believe this is a practical, beginning approach to solving this complex problem.

When unbridled wants and legitimate human needs are confused, the economy gets out of kilter. It develops a lack of equilibrium. We learn in Science that divine Love meets the needs, not our frivolous wants. And wants increasingly tend to come on top of needs. It's that extra layer of demand which does the damage. It's not for me or anyone to judge, but the individual should listen to his conscience—to his spiritual intuition—to determine whether something's really needed or not. If there's a need, there's a divine basis on which that need can be met. If there's merely an indulgent want, no such basis exists. Unrestrained want, by creating a layer of demand in the whole economic system, generates an imbalance throughout the circuit of economic factors. Industry begins to manufacture goods that don't really respond to what people need. This in turn launches a disastrous spiral of consequences.

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