What is your understanding of the economic crisis? Or does that have nothing to do with faith?

Luther:

I have also written some things about business and interest rates. But I am afraid that, just like before, it is still meaningless to worry about it because evil has already penetrated so far.

The foundation of the financial world is: ‘I am allowed to sell my wares as expensively as I can’. That means that you do not carry out trade from the perspective of what is good for your neighbour, but from what is good for yourself. When there is not enough bread you can make it more expensive, to earn more money. That is a scandalous standpoint that goes against Christian love. Therefore there cannot be much that is good in business.

The rule should not be that you may sell your wares as expensively as you can or want, but as expensively as it is proper to and as that is righteous and honest. You cannot sell at your own discretion without any law or standard, as if you were a god who is not responsible to anyone. You have to do it with a good conscience.

But yes, if this were actually done, there would not remain many merchants and businesses would decline. Then everything would have to be done differently. But I am not going to give tips as to how you can hold a good conscience in the current situation, because that is not possible. That would be the same as offering advice on how you can go against the Scriptures according to the Scriptures. When you try to turn the current without stopping the source, then that is going around in circles and completely meaningless. I hope that the destruction of business itself becomes so widespread that it is no longer sustainable and they have to stop it. The economic crisis is a sign of God’s anger.