Posted on 11/27/2013 5:59:31 PM PST by C. Edmund Wright
Economics: It seems the official position of Pope Francis is that the free market is a wicked enemy that must be restrained. With all due respect, he's mistaken. The free market has been a heavenly blessing. Two days before our American Thanksgiving, the Argentinian pontiff, in his first apostolic exhortation, called the free market a "new tyranny." "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," he wrote in the Vatican report. Claims of free-market success, he said, have "never been confirmed by the facts." He went on to condemn "a financial system which rules rather than serves." Actually, no economic system has brought more prosperity to more people than free-market capitalism. Neither socialism nor communism has increased prosperity, and are themselves ruled by tyrants.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Did you not like the bit against deficit spending in paragraph 56?
Not a hint in the whole thing about the abolition of private property. Yes, he does indicate that those arguing that the state has no right to regulate anything are too extreme—but this resonates with JP II et al.
He does have a point about priorities—when a minor stock market fluctuation is news but human suffering is not, we may want to examine our priorities. Likely this is why the entire section is called “Some challenges in today’s world.”
Yikes it is a picture of a son of perdition!
In fairness, Father Reginald Foster, among the best Latinists at the Vatican and the leading one from the English speaking world, is a Marxist of the Maoist persuasion. He’s from Milwaukie, IIRC, and is certainly quite a character—but his Latin is hard to beat.
OTOH—almost certainly the working language of the document was either Spanish (more likely) or Italian. Even though JP II could do it in Latin, his drafts, IIRC, were often in Polish, and Pope Francis isn’t the linguist that JPII was.
Opposing socialism and liberation theology doesn’t automatically make one embrace capitalism. He probably sees elements in each which he likes, but wouldn’t want to commit completely to any of them since he also sees elements which he doesn’t like.
I don’t like this Pope.
I thought a lot of it was good I read a lot of these letters. I am familiar wit the language. I just don’t think IBD. And Rush are off on this.
“Was it donations from those who earned it and contributed faithfully, or did you just take it?”
Donations.
I hate that bastard and pictures of him are getting old. Besides, some real Cowboy is liable to kick his azz for ruining a good hat by touching it.
I thought Ann Barnhardt was out of hand for criticizing this pope early on. I’m starting to think she was right.
I hope I’m wrong.
THE mob believes in free markets ...
Holding off for now, but this Pope is on a very short leash.
IIRC & OTOH - is that some sort of new age pig latin?
Link?
Ithink this Pope, like a lot in the Catholic church, are redistributionists at heart.
Yes I agree. He doesn’t know when to shut up. One upside is it provides insights into how he thinks. Actually he is not that much different from garden variety liberals. The world is full of these people. I am not that shocked or surprised.
Or Rehoboam taking over from Solomon rejecting the advice of the counsellors who had served his father and urged moderating the taxes he imposed. Instead he followed the advice of youmger sages who told him to answer the people's complaints:
I Kings 12:10-11:10 And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. 11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
To be clear, and maybe I was not, I believe IBD’s editorial….
Perhaps the issue is that the ‘free market’ as the Pope has experienced it, that is in its South American variety, has done little to alleviate poverty there. (You can argue that it’s not really ‘free market’, sure, but what is?!) The Pope ought to visit Silicon Valley or the economic zones in China.
I assume it means if I recall correctly and on the other hand. (oink, oink :-))
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