Posted on 12/12/2013 7:11:26 AM PST by what's up
Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.
He attacked the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs", calling on governments to implement "effective policies" to guarantee people's fundamental rights, including access to capital, services, educational resources, healthcare and technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
But there’s a wealth gap there, agree?
Well, then the Catholic church should start by offering free education to all at their schools instead of charging tuition. That’ll help spread the wealth.
That's total and complete crap. We don't need any government "restrictions, tariffs, and subsidies" in our economy to succeed economically. They only hold us back.
Unbridled consumerism and a sense of entitlement. :)
Isn't paying the football coach of Notre Dame $2.6 million dollars a year spreading the wealth?
Ok. The Pope is a Socialist. Can’t believe I could actually post that as a fact. My how the cancerous left infiltrates everything. Now the Church. Doesn’t seem to be any refuge from them anywhere.
It’s so pleasing for many cafeteria-style ‘catholics” (small C is appropriate) that this fresh pope shares the views of the current phony president.
He , like his predecessors subsequent to Pope Pius XII, is a flaming socialist who doesn’t understand that he was supposed to be a successor to Saint Peter.
Perhaps we've also been misinterpreting Obama and he's really a free-market, tax-cutting, government-shrinking capitalist.
What it says to me is that my private property is not really mine. It says that others should have a say in how I should invest my resources. This country’s whole reason of existence was based on John Locke’s Right of Life, Liberty, and Property. The sanctity of private property is the cornerstone of the American system as created by our Founders. The United States is not a child of backward feudal absolutist continental Europe, no, the United States sprang from the bosom of the Protestant Anglosphere. That is why north of the Rio Grande, success, south of the Rio Grande, failure.
MrB: “And they shared their wealth amongst themselves, the believers, not with every stranger that had their hand out demanding it.”
Not only that, but it (wealth redistribution) caused a slew of other problems that had to be addressed by the church leaders. The wealth redistribution described in Acts ultimately failed. It can probably work in small, committed groups, like the early church, but there’s no way it can function well for large organizations.
Afghanistan wasn't "manipulated to happen" by anyone except for those "willing tools" the Muslims who started the war.
It's pretty much axiomatic that this group won't work at a scale extended beyond the nuclear family.
Except we don't have laissez faire. We have oppressive Gov't intrusion. The Pope should be calling for less Gov't intrusion, not more.
is as much a critique of the Marxist-materialistic view of the world
Except the Pope uses language that bashes the free market much more than Marxism.
"Social fraternity", "guaranteed access to capital and healthcare"...these are phrases the left uses, not the right.
Well, we seem to be bridling our consumerism around my place.
Does the Pope get to pick and choose who gets bridled and who doesn't?
And more Gov't control will means I will have higher taxes to achieve this "guarantee" on health care he's talking about so I have to bridle myself further?
It's all leftist speak.
To the liberal - it is competition that is their greatest fear and is the root of all evil. Greed is the concept that is slipped willy nilly in the space between competitors to explain why one entity is strong and another weak. It is the apple on the Tree. Envy always hides behind a mask. It passes itself off by appeals to fairness, equality, or whatever explains away its insidious motivations. Greed is Envy’s most talented lie. A strong corporation shares whatever it itself considers the excess profits of its labor - by paying for executives and all others under its employ with big enough salaries to attract better ones than the competition. Building a strong and highly competitive corporation is one of the most virtuous activities of man.
The wealth gap can be explained in America as the result of citizens having become satiated - not with excellence, but with laziness. When the government and not the freeman controls the stepping stones, all paths are marked “Bovine only.”
“What it says to me is that my private property is not really mine. It says that others should have a say in how I should invest my resources”
Isn’t it possible that what it says is, every person, especially if one is a Christian, but at least if one considers oneself “moral” or “caring”, should not horde one’s possessions but rather always wish to first share it with others who are in need?
I think that’s a pretty reasonable interpretation of the Pope’s words. And it’s certainly not “Anti American”. Unless one considers being greedy/selfish a “good American”.
Also there’s nothing in the sentence I quoted to you or anywhere in this latest from the Pope that says “others should have a say in how I invest my resources.”
The recent actions by the Pope have been exhortations to every individual on the planet. Meant to be read and considered by every individual, a plea to everyone at once to not put oneself first, but rather put others first, always. This is the Christian way after all.
This is truly how nations and governments (entities composed of people, by definition) are effectively changed anyway. By changing the hearts and minds of the people that comprise them. Not by additional forces of the State as a whole, imposed upon individuals. But individuals changing the society they live in, from within.
Just something for you and others to consider as you read/hear his words. The ultimate fact here is that he can be interpreted two ways: one, as asking for more and more state control, or two, asking for more state sponsored “subsidiarity”. The latter is quite Catholic, and also, quite individualistic.
The ultimate choice of what you want to believe he implores is, of course, up to you. But I ask you, and anyone reading this, to read/hear the Pope’s words as a person merely asking each of us to follow a very simple rule: love your neighbor as yourself.
You know, I am presently trying to read the Pope ‘s entire message on the Vatican website but have only so far gotten through a paragraph or so. IN the paragraph I read he talks about Cain and Abel. God blessed Abel. In his jealousy, Cain kills Abel and Cain has separated himself from God. Now what do you suppose that means?
If you want to know what the Pope really says I suggest you go to the Vatican website for the complete message.
There isn’t any such thing as wealth in N Korea.
Food and clothing are rare luxuries there.
I am not tracking with you completely here. Are you suggesting that socialist or totalitarian countries don't have socialist health care access? Like Cuba, for example? It can certainly be argued that your points about public schools and educational grants do not apply in totalitarian states, but that is in no small measure BECAUSE of the market system, not in spite of it.
"Not sure why this message from the Pope is assumed to be exclusively directed at the US."
I don't assume that. I think his message is directed at the world, as the title of the message indicates. And there's really no other interpretation that makes any sense than for the "effective policies" the Pontiff mentions to be implemented by governments, because they are the only ones who can.
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