Even priests need the free market

H enry Ward Beecher’s church was very rich. Every Sunday crowds would flock across New York’s East River on “Beecher’s boats” to see the charismatic preacher, who had arrived in Brooklyn from rural Indiana. In the 1850s and 60s Beecher sold sermons, bringing in so much cash that he could sponsor and arm with rifles a regiment in the American civil war (“Beecher’s regiment,” toting “Beecher’s bibles”). By 1875, when an adultery scandal brought him down, his Brooklyn congregation had swollen from 20 souls to thousands. Beecher was a celebrity; proof both that religion can lead to riches, and that riches can lead to religion.

Wall Street still needs more to coax it back. But non-American firms may be ready to return

But foreign investors might want to tread carefully

The country’s struggling economy provides a push

As “liberation day” nears, American businesses suffer 

Even if America lifts sanctions, the old continent has its own weapons

When demand softens, the secondary market absorbs the pain

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/03/27/even-priests-need-the-free-market

A source: www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/03/27/even-priests-need-the-free-market