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http://www.theage.com.au/comment/philip-freier-head-20160114-gm6e8v.html#ixzz3xNME5zpX Commentators have endowed the economy with a will and even personality of its own. They say it is hesitant or uncertain; ailing, sick, or needing a transfusion. But, more ominously, they regularly call for sacrifices on its behalf. Such language can have dangerous implications for ordinary people, because it affects how we relate to each other. Sometimes it becomes no longer as people, or family or citizens, but merely as individual components of the economy – lifters or leaners, to quote a former treasurer. We can see ourselves less as part of a great joint enterprise but as competitors, motivated more by self-interest and less by compassion. Yet there is also a sense in which the personal metaphor is appropriate, and that is to indicate another truth, that the economy is no more or less than the interaction of persons. In suggesting we can over-emphasise the economy, I do not mean to deny its centrality, its direct impact on people's jobs, family lives, hopes and plans. But, to paraphrase Jesus' teaching about the Sabbath, the economy was made for people, not people for the economy. Once, when people talked about the economy, they meant local or national. Today, even ordinary citizens are far more aware of the global economy, and that it is beyond even the most powerful nation-state to dictate or direct. Technological advances, especially in communications and transportation, have brought undoubted economic benefits, but there are costs as well, such as increased opportunities for exploiting people and rising alienation, where people feel powerless to influence what is happening. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/philip-freier-head-20160114-gm6e8v.html#ixzz3xNME5zpX Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook