I am glad of the discussions here. Things are clearer now.

True. Indeed, it is important to not measure a person’s worth by their “usefulness.” As a corollary, we should be aware that the economic decisions we make have human consequences. The trap of capitalistic thinking is in seeing market forces as inherently good. This is the blind spot of Milton Friedman – he’s so enamored of his system that he has absolute faith in its ability to *eventually*, through market forces, create better lives for people. If we take this thinking at face value, it can absolve us of a responsibility to work directly for a better world rather than waiting for a better world to “trickle down” to everyone else.

No, market forces are not an inherent good, they are merely a useful mechanism. The goal must be a better, more just world with dignity for all. Where a capitalist structure works as a means to a good end, then we should support it, but where capitalism leads to the degradation and exploitation of people, we must reject it, or make the deliberate corrections necessary.

Marxism and Capitalism alike share several of the same errors — e.g. a focus on economics, denial of the dignity of the human person and of Creation. They are both “structures of sin” that enable evil. They are created by the myriad of decisions and actions of human persons.

A more sustainable way of living would focus on the dignity of the human person and all Creation. It would recognize and enable virtues like temperance and penalize and discourage evils like gluttony.

I don’t know all the details of this, because it doesn’t exist now and has never existed in the past. I do know, however, that we are creating structures of goodness, wisdom, and sustainability when we reject gluttony and embrace temperance, when we do the works of mercy, justice, and peace. As well as, of course, when we bake mulberry pie.