Brown calls market 'dangerous'

APRIL 20, 2010

By CALWATCHDOG STAFF

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, in response to a question from a TV reporter about the role of religion in public life, called for a living family wage and described the marketplace as “dangerous.” Here is a transcribed account of this video interview from the San Francisco Chronicle blog:

“I’m not a person that has been trained to think only in terms of markets and cost benefits, and input output, but rather in terms of a living family wage.  Which is a moral idea not an economic idea.  And the moral idea is — is that everyone who works is worthy to earn enough to support a family, because the family is the basic institution.  That’s what I learned in the earliest years of my education, and I continue that with me. 

 “And I think that’s very relevant to the debates in Sacramento and Washington where even now, attempts to regulate the dangerous marketplace, because when it fails, it causes so such suffering.  Even these modest attempts are being resisted – ferociously – by the same individuals and the same spirit I think, that has caused such havoc. 

“And, so, I’m not going to evoke religion on the side of one party and one candidacy, but I certainly draw on the wealth of experience and teaching and inspiration that I’ve received, not only in going to catholic schools, but also in spending time in the seminary and also later in life spending a great deal of time with various theologians and spiritual leaders.”