Continuous improvement.
Ping — more on the Jesuits.
These people (and the Pope is no exception) do not think these things through to a logical conclusion. Seizing the labor of productive people and giving the proceeds to unmotivated people simply worsens the problem. The practice is known by several names, one of which comes to mind - Communism.
We already have some redistribution in the USA....
Obama is fundamentally transforming America, and this Jesuit is fundamentally transforming the Catholic church.
Pope Francis’ remarks are being blown out of context here at FR and in the media. Governments do dominate the economic rent of economies, and it is indeed their obligation to grant some of that economic rent to the poorest of the poor. The UN is hardly known for its charity, in fact, it is known for its corruption.
Pope Francesco is humble and open. I saw him and heard his homily and a speech, during a pilgrimage to Rome with a group from my church in February: he asked our group to pray for him. He is genuine in his concern for the dignity of the individual and the preservation of life and care for the unborn. There were two babies in our pilgrimage group, and those were the ones he touched and greeted, among all of us there.
It is good that the Pope puts the question of wealth in context of charitable need, rather than the incompetent UN approach, and crooked US political twisted approach, with which entitlement programs are doled out here in in the US - like Obama phones. Obamabucks for Obama votes, no mystery there, and development of an entitlement class trapped in political slavery for the dole.
Believe it or not there are actual people seriously in need in this country, and there is massive underemployment and unemployment (myself recently among the statistics). The Kenyan has had the printing presses filling the pockets of the nationalist socialist communist elites in this country and around the world, at the cost of an unhealthy economy, and ineffective programs for the truly needy and real economic and social problems endemic in our system. It will be a miracle to survive his administration without massive national economic collapse.
Obamacare is the latest lie, which will further crush the free economy and people in this country. We are not witnessing wealth redistribution in the USA. It is purely theft by government and payment of political patrimony. The truly poor and needy are still suffering deeply, and it is partly the government’s job to do something about that. Individuals, and institutions, including the Catholic Church, have important roles to play in filling such needs.
“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” John 12:8
**Ruse added that “Francis is a Tea Party Catholic. He’s a populist.” According to Ruse, the Pope and the Tea Party have a common denominator insofar as they are both opposed to the establishment and to corporatism.**
Interesting comment. And I have said this before, Jesuits just seem to say it a little differently.
The Jesuits are soldiers of Christ. I do think they tend to be radical socialists if it suits their purposes in their war on evil. They will take up any political point of view in their battle against evil, if it works.
Looking at the Jesuit attempt to conquer Japan in the 18th and 19th centuries, one can see their shortcomings in political flexibility/ expediency very clearly.
Simply put, the Jesuits should not be trusted with politics.I do not trust Pope Francis with my politics, his expertise is the war on Satan and evil. I wish him good fortune in that fight, but he should refrain from publicly entering the realms of political power as much as possible.
Blatant hypocrisy considering just the Vatican alone is supposedly worth $10-$15B
Lol
Man John Paul and Benedict sure didn’t evoke so much parsing and excusing and rationalizing and ambiguity
Perhaps he should focus more on the 10th commandment.
This one sure brought Catholic bashers out in force on FR.
Hope that was rewarding for such. Sounds a lot like ignorant foolishness.
The Vatican Bank is one of the wealthiest banks in the world. Why does pope Francis only mention government and states to give other peoples money away?
So, here's the deal. All biological systems arrange themselves to use their available energy most efficiently. This allows the biological system to grow and to thrive. The most efficient organization is called a Pareto Distribution, which means in effect that 80% of the wealth will go to 20% of the population. It also means that within the 20% that the same 80/20 rule will apply, with the wealth being starkly bunched up at the top.
This Pareto Distribution arises as a corollary to the Laws of Thermodynamics and Evolution. Conservation of Energy. That's it. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO AVOID A PARETO DISTRIBUTION IN ECONOMIC RESULTS.
So, if stark RELATIVE inequality is as inevitable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, then what do we do? Simple. We make RELATIVE inequality as non-consequential as possible by producing so much wealth that in ABSOLUTE terms everybody will be affluent. In short, we concentrate on growth, keep the economy moving forward at a rapid and sustained pace, and make sure that the bottom 80% now have as much wealth as the top 20% in absolute terms. Under the "Law of 72", the economy will double in size withers the Rate of Growth times the Number of Years equals 72. So, if we could achieve a 6% growth rate in GDP and maintain it for 12 years, the economy would double. If we maintain it for another 12 years, the economy will have quadrupled, and the the bottom 80% then will be living like the top 20% now.
Get it?
It's so important, my fellow conservatives. WE HAVE TO GET THIS POINT. Else, we let the Left breathlessly tell us that "the top 20% have 80% of the wealth and that's unfair!!!" Guys, we need to respond "Congratulations, Leftie! You've discovered the Pareto Distribution! Now, can we please accept the inevitability of RELATIVE inequality, which will finally allow us to begin to end ABSOLUTE poverty once and for all?
In order to do that we need to start by accepting the fact that Pareto's Law is as unavoidable as the Law of Gravity. "The poor you will always have with you." That's right. The RELATIVE poor are inevitable. But through economic growth what we can do is provide the poorest person in the world with a living standard equal to an upper middle-class American today. That's possible.
But it only becomes possible when we accept the inevitability of stark RELATIVE inequality in economic outcomes. Only then will we truly be in a position to grow the economy to the point where the poorest family living in a cardboard box in Calcutta will live like the average family living in Newport Beach today.