Pope Francis's Challenge To Global Capitalism

[H]umanity is experiencing a turning point in its history, as we can see from the advances being made in so many fields. We can only praise the steps being taken to improve people’s welfare in areas such as health care, education and communications. At the same time, we have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. A number of diseases are spreading. The hearts of many people are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the so-called rich countries. The joy of living frequently fades, lack of respect for others and violence are on the rise, and inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and, often, to live with precious little dignity.‚ Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “Thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. 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.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...-a-marian.html


The ego always seeks to divide and separate. -A Course In Miracles

I appreciated when the new Pope butted in and came out against Obama's plan to target Syria. He also came out against progressives' support of abortion. I think Pope Francis is evenhanded and offends all sort of people.

Coming from South America, he has witnessed even greater separations of wealth between the rich and poor than is developing here. He knows where this goes. Even southern evangelicals are apt to get a sermon about the real meaning of Christmas this time of year so the Pope is not saying anything too radical about making money one's god.

If I were to contradict him, it would just be for trying to be too much of an economist. It was in northern Europe with its more capitalistic and less feudal structure where prosperity able to heal the sick and care for the poor expressed itself. it was a by-product rather than a goal of capitalism. That said, I applaud the Pope for taking on all comers and warning us about excesses.

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Originally Posted by oladub

I appreciated when the new Pope butted in and came out against Obama's plan to target Syria. He also came out against progressives' support of abortion. I think Pope Francis is evenhanded and offends all sort of people.

Coming from South America, he has witnessed even greater separations of wealth between the rich and poor than is developing here. He knows where this goes. Even southern evangelicals are apt to get a sermon about the real meaning of Christmas this time of year so the Pope is not saying anything too radical about making money one's god.

If I were to contradict him, it would just be for trying to be too much of an economist. It was in northern Europe with its more capitalistic and less feudal structure where prosperity able to heal the sick and care for the poor expressed itself. it was a by-product rather than a goal of capitalism. That said, I applaud the Pope for taking on all comers and warning us about excesses.

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The days of rampant un-hindered capitalism did little to improve health care - except for the massively wealthy and then mostly by allowing them to live apart. What did improve health was science conducted in largely state-sponsored laboratories, state-sponsored sewage control and water treatment and state-sponsored trash removal.

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Originally Posted by rb336

The days of rampant un-hindered capitalism did little to improve health care - except for the massively wealthy and then mostly by allowing them to live apart. What did improve health was science conducted in largely state-sponsored laboratories, state-sponsored sewage control and water treatment and state-sponsored trash removal.

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I disagree. The capitalist era saw fantastic improvements in the average life expectancy, child mortality, etc.. Innovations in medicine were spin-offs of greedy capitalists. Trickle down seems to work better in medicine than in economics. Everyone in the world takes advantage of pharmaceuticals and equipment developed in the US, Japan, and other capitalist enclaves. I'm aware that the US is down the list of developed countries today in terms of health statistics yet a lot of medical innovation the entire world benefits from originates here. Canadians buy a lot of US pharmaceuticals at a cheaper price than we do. Is there any other country where it costs an average $1.3B to bring a new drug to market? I would blame our high costs on the collusion of corporations and government but would describe that as corporatism, or economic fascism, rather than laissez faire capitalism.

Getting the government and insurance companies out of health care sometimes helps. Doctors who take cash instead of processing insurance forms often charge just $50 for office visits. Lasix and plastic surgery which usually are not covered by insurance have gone down in price. Our government won't allow us to purchase much cheaper foreign medicine. Walmart and Walgreens have probably saved Americans more money with $10 three month generic prescriptions than he government.

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Originally Posted by oladub

I disagree. The capitalist era saw fantastic improvements in the average life expectancy, child mortality, etc.

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That is, once things like the 40-hour work week, paid overtime, the minimum wage, abolishment of child labor, and OSHA came into being. These milestones were hardly the product of altruistic robber barons.

The Grand Illusion [[Styx)

Welcome to the Grand illusion
Come on in and see what's happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star.

But don't be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they're just someone else's fantasy
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because your neighbors got it made
Just remember that it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same

America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
Get yourself a brand new motor car
Someday soon we'll stop to ponder what on Earth's this spell we're under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are

It was the increase in productivity that allowed reformers something to work with. If there had been no surplus created by capitalism, reformers would have had less to offer. No, the robber barons weren't generally beneficent but their bounty kind of trickled down often with the help of reformers. Henry Ford was sort an exception. Although anti-union, he started paying his workers $5/day which was about twice the going rate. Some preachers delivered sermons that giving common people so much money was going to corrupt them. Ford just figured that now they would have money to buy Model T's.

During Calvin Coolidge's administration of peace and prosperity and expansive capitalism, workers wages went up significantly while the number of hours they worked went down. Today we send our jobs overseas and bring in illegal and legal aliens to do remaining jobs for corporate profits.