Customers purchase these products believing their lives will be better off as a result, despite the economic value they part with in the process. This makes such purchase transactions the ideal win-win outcome, i.e., a voluntary exchange in which both parties benefit. At least in this world, it’s a huge way that “Love your neighbor as yourself” — the bedrock principle of God’s kingdom — is fulfilled.

When customers find a business' products and services to be sufficiently compelling, companies also have the opportunity to create an entirely different kind of value. Customers buy products and services at a price higher than production cost, demonstrating that companies have added economic value. Companies get to harvest that increase in value as profit. This means that successful businesses do something unique and significant: they enlarge human economic wealth. Only business enlarges economic wealth.

Each vocation, however, is meant to make its own particular contributions to human flourishing. Each is meant to make our lives better in the ways for which they are especially suited. So how about business? In what way(s) is business meant to add to human flourishing? How is business meant to make our lives better?

In March, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed, which included more than $2 trillion in economic relief for individuals and businesses facing the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. There are several financial benefits and tax incentives that many individuals haven't taken advantage of this year. We have provided a breakdown of the four most significant provisions of the CARES Act and how they can alleviate economic stress during these times.