Too long for a bumper-sticker, but definitely worthy.
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 06/09/2010 10:34:12 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Some people's faith in the marketplace is almost religious. It is so absolute that even the current economic crisis has not convinced them of the importance of sensible government regulation. Such faith is certainly not part of Catholic doctrine. In his 2009 encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict looked at the economic disaster and acknowledged the need FOR government regulations. He was critical of those who refused to recognize the value of such regulations.
"The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from 'influences' of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way," he writes. "In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise."
Note how he argues that an unregulated economy tramples on personal freedom, contrary to the views of libertarians. When it comes to the economy, Benedict is not blinded by ideology like those who worship the market. He sees the actual effects of real people. If anything, his views have become stronger as the crisis has gone on. "The worldwide financial breakdown has, as we know, demonstrated the fragility of the present economic system and the institutions linked to it," he said on April 30. "It has also shown the error of the assumption that the market is capable of regulating itself, apart from public intervention and the support of internalized moral standards....
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.washingtonpost.com ...
"The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from 'influences' of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way," he writes. "In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise."
"Since the origins of modern capitalism around 1780, more than two-thirds of the world’s population has moved out of poverty. In China and India alone, more than 500 million have been raised out of poverty just in the last forty years. In almost every nation the average age of mortality has risen dramatically, causing populations to expand accordingly. Health in almost every dimension has been improved, and literacy has been carried to remote places it never reached before.Whatever the motives of individuals, the system has improved the plight of the poor as none ever has before. The contemporary left systematically refuses to face these undeniable facts."
-- Robert Novak, from the thread Economic Heresies of the Left (Novak on Caritas in Veritate)
This is what happens when the Pope starts talking about something which is outside of his realm of expertise. Stick to theology ... leave the economics to people who know what they’re talking about.
SnakeDoc
What?!
How does one go from “faith in God” to faith in a communist-style economy?
The comPost has it wrong.
Good question.
Your Holiness B16,
Faith in God, not in man’s government.
Gag.
If the Wall Street greed merchants can’t regulate themselves, someone must. However, the government financial regulators are just about as successful as the oil regulators because they hire those representing those they are supposed to regulate. Plan C needed.
This is what happens when the anti-Catholic dufii on FR start talking outside the realm of their expertise. The economy is only outside his [Benedict XVI] realm of expertise if you accept the false premise that all commercial activities should be godless and amoral. Given these [your] standards slavery, prostitution, extortion, kidnapping, larceny, and drug trafficking would be perfectly OK.
An anti-Catholic would not have listed Christian theology among the Pope’s areas of expertise — I did.
Suggesting government control of financial markets is putting faith in an entity which takes pride in Godlessness and amorality. Capitalism is not Godless an amoral ... it is as moral and faithful as its individual practicioners. Socialism is inherently Godless and amoral.
SnakeDoc
And neither is representative government, when it is truly representative in reflecting the morality of the governed. This Catholic will always strive to ensure that our (the US) government reflects my Catholic values.
Too long for a bumper-sticker, but definitely worthy.
>> This Catholic will always strive to ensure that our (the US) government reflects my Catholic values.
Fair enough ... do those values include public controls on financial systems?
SnakeDoc
News flash. . .it's as much a sin to make government your "god" as it is to make the market your "god".
If the Pope is an expert in the economy, then why isn't he an economist instead of Pope? I thought his area of expertise was theology.
I don't know if the Pope said what is stated in this article or not, but if he did, he's wrong. He's exchanging the "god" of the market for the "god" of government, and that's not a good thing.
boomark
Some things never change: death, taxes, Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., giving the liberal spin on things ...
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