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Economy
In reply to the discussion: Weekend Economists and the Accidental President December 13-15, 2013 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)6. Pope Francis understands economics better than most politicians
Last edited Sat Dec 14, 2013, 07:29 AM - Edit history (1)
SO DO MOST OTHER PEOPLE
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/27/pope-francis-understands-economics-better-than-most-politicians/
Pope Francis is a pontiff who has constructively broken all the rules of popery so far to widespread acclaim. Hes faulted the Catholic church for its negative obsession with gays and birth control, and now he has expanded his mandate to economics with a groundbreaking screed denouncing the new idolatry of money.
As the Pope wrote in his apostolic exhortation:
The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings.
His thoughts on income inequality are searing:
How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality.
The popes screed on the economy of exclusion and inequality will disappoint those who considers themselves free-market capitalists, but they would do well to listen to the message. Francis gives form to the emotion and injustice of post-financial-crisis outrage in a way that has been rare since Occupy Wall Street disbanded. There has been a growing chorus of financial insiders from the late Merrill Lynch executive Herb Allison to organizations like Better Markets its time for a change in how we approach capitalism. Its not about discarding capitalism, or hating money or profit; its about pursuing profits ethically, and rejecting the premise that exploitation is at the center of profit. When 53% of financial executives say they cant get ahead without some cheating, even though they want to work for ethical organizations, theres a real problem....
...
In the discussions of why the US is not recovering, economists often mention metrics like economic growth and housing. They rarely mention the metrics that directly tell us we are failing our economic goals, like poverty and starvation. Those metrics of income inequality tell an accurate story of the depth of our economic malaise that new-home sales cant. One-fifth of Americans, or 47 million people, are on food stamps; 50% of children born to single mothers live in poverty; and over 13 million people are out of work. Children are now not likely to do as well as their parents did as downward mobility takes hold for the first time in generations.
The bottom line, which Pope Francis correctly identifies, is that inequality is the biggest economic issue of our time for everyone, not just the poor. Nearly any major economic metric unemployment, growth, consumer confidence comes down to the fact that the vast majority of Americans are struggling in some way. You dont have to begrudge the rich their fortunes or ask for redistribution. Its just hard to justify ignoring the financial problems of 47 million people who dont have enough to eat. Until they have enough money to fill their pantries, we wont have a widespread economic recovery. You cant have a recovery if one-sixth of the worlds economically leading country is eating on $1.50 a day.
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