The Editor, Sir:

The perils and pitfalls of Jamaican investment schemes fill today's headlines, yet, few of us ever stop to think that in a world where money is treated like a god, investment is a lot like deciding to go to a particular church - the first consideration we should make is what that church is really like.

In a capitalist system wealth is power, and power is most often used to maintain the status quo in which, as the old song goes, 'the rich get richer and the poor get poorer'.

Today, many people believe that 'using money to make money,' is the goal of all successful financial enterprise, while others ask if this is truly an honest way to make a living or rather if it is simply usury and the taking advantage of wealth itself.

In reality, only a small percentage of income earners ever make enough money to invest in the labours of the rest. And, while the rest will do most of the actual work of making and delivering goods and services, the illusion of gaining wealth and power is offered to them like the 'pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.'

It's thought that Jesus spent years educating himself before he took on the leaders of the infamous Temple, which he eventually condemned for its vices and inequities. His example should be a lesson to us, that our own education might be a far wiser thing to put our efforts toward, than attending the church of investment and worshipping the god of money.

I am, etc.,

Ed McCOY

mmhobo48@juno.com

Florida

Via Go-Jamaica