God Doesn’t Run Markets, People Do

Abstract

For many Americans today, trusting in the capitalist system is almost a form of religious belief. This has not always been the case, however. During the crash of the 1930s, Americans became deeply suspicious of financial institutions and of capitalism itself. Bankers were the bad guys in films during that time. They were portrayed as fat, self-satisfied, smoking big cigars, and destroying the “little guy” or “the forgotten man.” In the brilliant 1933 film, Dinner at Eight, an honest businessman could not earn a living and the bankers were in cahoots with the corrupt business lobbies. Later, in the 1950s, came “Godless communism” and the perceived national security threat from the Soviet Union, and capitalism stood against communism in the name of God and nation. Americans came to believe that God is behind the market, guiding it with an “invisible hand.” This became a sort of religious faith all by itself.