Theology of Economics

Is there such a thing as theology to be found in economics? Do the two subjects have anything to do with one another or are they mutually exclusive? Is Tertullian's statement "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem" apply here? I think not. One of the biggest problems in this current economic mess is the failure to realize the underlying causes of all economic turmoil. This lack of thought or lack of perception of the true reality is causing nothing but half baked self serving solutions.
When I was in undergrad my finance professors would always tell me that the market works perfectly. Arbitrage was fantasy and that unless you had illegal information everything you knew about a company was already factored into its price. How naive this thinking truly is. However, today the pendulum has swung and equally as naive statements are being made about the government. What is the real answer? Can anything be done? Is capitalism really dead? Is socialism really the answer?
All of these questions have false premises and therefore do not really address the problem, let alone offer any sort of solution. Right now we are being told that the greedy capitalists on Wall Street have been fleecing all of us ignorant folk for years and that has placed us in the situation we are in today. Government on the other hand will fix these problems and bring about a right order.
On what basis can we believe this... the government is no different. Greedy people looking out for their own self interests are equally entrenched in government as well as Wall Street. This is not a liberal conservative issue. It is an issue of human nature. The fixing group (in this case the government) wants us all to believe that they are better than the alternative. Why... because they just are? No real reason is given nor is any real reason sought to be found.
The problem is that we are all greedy and out for ourselves. The bailout is not what is best for us, but we do not want to suffer the consequences of all of our actions. Our incessant spending into debt, lack of saving, and constant desires to have all our eyes desire is the root cause.
The Bible tells us all about this... however, it could not possibly be consulted or thought of in anyway as relevant (Ha). Notwithstanding, the Bible answers the current economic crisis quite clearly. Our total concern about that which is passing away has caused us to miss our purpose and sell out for temporary nothingness of the now.
How can we as Christians expect anything different from the private or public sector when they do not know Jesus. We expect these plans and theories to work somehow and we expect them to obey our ethics, yet we do not expect them to share our presuppositions.
Therefore, we never enact real change but instead just become complainers about the state of things and offer no real solutions. My hope is to start a discussion on this topic and others facing our culture from a Biblical perspective...