Economics & Atom Bombs

My wife and I are taking the Financial Peace Univeristy course by Dave Ramsey, we are only one session into the course, and I've agreed with most everything in the course so far. One thing that Dave said sticks in my mind though, "Money is amoral." A simple idea and unless you are an animist I think you agree with the idea that inanimate objects are amoral. Now unfortunately the term amoral is often misused and misunderstood. In the application with regard to money, the term amoral does not imply that money is bad, nor is money good for that matter. Now if you are one of those crazy people who value morality in people than a person who acts amorally is most likely in your opinion going to be a someone who does bad things. If you are someone who does not value morality in people then don't bother to read on, you will not agree with me and I doubt anything I write here will change your mind.

Now what about economic theory or theories in general? Can a theory be moral? My opinion is that a theory cannot be moral, that theories are in fact amoral. Newton's theory of gravity does not care about the right and wrong implications of a child falling out of a tree anymore than the tree itself. Now back to economic theories, the sheer number of economic theories makes my head spin; Analytical Marxism, Commercialism, Classical theory of growth and stagnation, supply-side economics, and the list goes on and on almost without end. None of these theories on their own will morally effect society, Americans know supply-side economics as "Reaganomics" or "trickle-down economics", and others in the world know Analytical Marxism as various communist and socialist economic systems. Here is where I will try to make my point, it is only the people involved in these economic systems that are capable of moral action upon seeing the effects of these economic theories on other people. I will also state my opinion that "Reaganomics" is a pseudo moral wrapping around supply-side economics which passes the "moral buck" along to the people who amass wealth, making the wealthy responsible for distributing wealth from the top of the economic system for the benefit of all. It is my opinion that people who allow policies based on economic theories to negatively impact other people, and refuse to make changes using the excuse that "It is just the nature of an X economy" are acting amorally, and since morality is something I value in people I am imply wrong behavior.

Einstein's theories of relativity are amoral, but the creation of atomic bombs and the use of these weapons on people are actions with moral consequences. I've never heard anyone give an excuse for violence based on the amorality of the weapon used. Why are we so easily excepting of poverty and oppression because our chosen economic system allows it?