In Which the Pope Informs us that the Free Market is Very, Very Bad

 

From today’s “Apostolic Exhortation,” posted, for now, without comment:

54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting….

204. We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.

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  1. Profile Photo Inactive
    @RedFeline
    James Of England

    Red Feline

    Are you saying that the Ricochetti on this thread think the Pope has a right to pontificate on economics?

    I don’t know if “pontificate” was a pun, or unintentional. The Pope certainly has the right to say whatever he wants within the realms of Christian opinion.   …

    You caught the pun I did intend, James! :)

    Of course, the Pope has the same right as any of us to say whatever he wants about whatever he wants, as a private person, and as Pope too.

    He obviously doesn’t realize that these exhortations he is giving in the field of economics and politics seem to be coming from his own ideological world viewpoint. I wonder if the Cardinals who appointed him expected this?

    • #421
  2. Profile Photo Inactive
    @JamesOfEngland

    Now that the Pope has expanded on what he meant by “trickle-down”, it seems worth noting it here. Apparently nothing ever reaches the poor under capitalism.

    Q: The most striking part of the Exhortation was where it refers to an economy that “kills”…

    A: There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church. I wasn’t speaking from a technical point of view, what I was trying to do was to give a picture of what is going on. The only specific quote I used was the one regarding the “trickle-down theories” which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and social inclusiveness in the world. The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the Church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist.”

    • #422
  3. Profile Photo Inactive
    @Douglas
    James Of England: Now that the Pope has expanded on what he meant by “trickle-down”, it seems worth noting it here. Apparently nothingever reaches the poor under capitalism.

    Said it before. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc. This Pope is, in word and deed, anti-capitalist, anti-market. If Barack Obama said this stuff, no one here would hesitate to call a spade a spade.

    • #423
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