Pope Benedict on the Global Economy

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Great stuff dude.. I was really impressed.

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Nicely done, very impressive. Keep up the good work and of course, keep sharing your ideas.

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Great stuff dude.. I was really impressed.

thanks for sharing with us.

Nicely done, very impressive. Keep up the good work and of course, keep sharing your ideas.

thanks for sharing with us.

This is a great job! Well done. Thank you sharing your ideas and knowledge.

Nicely done, very impressive. Keep up the good work and of course, keep sharing your ideas.

I am Catholic and respect the Pope, but sometimes his comments seem to be compartmentalized. It would be nice to see religious leaders connect the dots across the spectrum of issues. When he says: "The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them." Why didn't this thought process apply when he told the African continent that the use of condoms to help control HIV/AIDS was not a "moral" option?

I also found it interesting that when the Pope was visiting Israel he said, and I am paraphrasing: [When one institution has too much say and diversity is not allowed to thrive, people become repressed and ineffective and tyranny sets in." This was during the same period that a group of Catholics and other "fundamentalist" Christians were condemning Notre Dame for inviting President Obama to speak at their graduation commencement ceremony.

Social Justice, in my opinion, cannot occur unless contradictions are removed
and "leaders" realize that justice should not be approached from a narrow self-serving perspective.

I'm Catholic (Altar Boy late 1960s Holy Redeemer Evansville IN), the World food situation will never be solved... sorry to say. Government corruption / Greed for MONEY and Greed for CONTROL! Look below about WFP-IFAD-FAO...
Found this website and thought I'd share. Very Good website for someone who wants the UNITED NATIONS and WORLD Instant Up-To-The-Minute News ALL from ONE PLACE! Press Releases, Speech, and Various Transcripts / Documents with PDFs to PRINT

http://www.UnitedNationsUS.com
It is NOT a blog website! Get info, then come back here to write your thoughts!

UN overall General News with 5 World geographical areas defined and 10 subject areas such as Worldwide Human Rights, World Pease and Security, Humanitarian Aid and Refugees

The materialistic binge predates Reagan, Ando.

Thirty years ago next week, on July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered his (in)famous "crisis of confidence" speech, sometimes labeled the "malaise" speech, even though Carter never used that word. Here are two excerpts:

"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose."

"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."

Clearly, materialism and consumerism were on Carter's mind as issues the nation needed to confront that night.

The beginning of the materialistic binge probably can be dated sometime during the Vietnam War era, at the time when consumerism began trumping productivity--the time when we began importing more goods than we were exporting.

You are absolutely right that taking on the corporate powers won't be enough. We need to confront this problem as individuals and as a society, because we all are part of the problem. Carter's words, whatever any of us thought of his presidency at the time, were prophetic.

The Flaws in "Redistributive Justice".

The idea that those with wealth must, by the compulsion of law and penalty, give to those who have little has a spiritual flaw, a political flaw, an ethical flaw and an economic flaw.

The spiritual flaw is thinking that this equates to charity. Charity is grounded in a compassionate heart not compulsion. The spiritual benefit to both the giver and receiver are in grave danger in any system that makes charitable giving compulsory.

The political flaw is that in every compulsory redistribution system, there must be an entity that decides what gets redistributed to whom. This may work well when a benevolent and reasonably altruistic person runs that entity, but the very creation of the entity creates a point of power which will eventually be sought by those who would use power for their own sake.

The ethical flaw is the assumption that it is 'just' to redistribute wealth. Most people of wealth have worked hard and made great sacrifices to attain their wealth. Many people who are now hard-working and poor aspire to be hard-working and well-off. It seems manifestly unjust to take from someone who works 11 hour days while continuing to improve their knowledge and skills and give to someone who punches the clock and puts in their 8 hours.

The economic flaw is two-fold. First, the assumption that productivity and thus wealth will continue to be produced at the same pace under a system that involves compulsory redistribution of the product of a person's labor. Each person is motivated by whatever motivates them. The individual liberty to use the product of your labor as you see fit is the most universal motivator of labor and productivity. The idea that people will work as hard when they get to keep less and less gravely mistakes what motivates hard work. As wealth redistribution increases, the overall productivity of a society will decrease because those who would otherwise choose to work long and hard to increase their earnings are less motivated.

Second, people who are motivated to 'get ahead,' in a society that emphasizes 'redistributive justice,' will get ahead through befriending the right people and saying the right things

Looking back at the above posts, I believe much of what Jimmy Carter said. However, I think that people need to be won over to that view through passionate dialogue of heart and mind. You cannot legislate the kinds of things Jimmy Carter was talking about. That is my big bone to pick with Sojourners, not the values they espouse, but their idea that government provides the solution. Power is not the solution. When did Jesus use power?

Carter has increasingly earned my respect over the years. He was so right about energy policy and other matters.

Here's an article about the "crisis of confidence" speech that you might enjoy. I'm thinking of ordering the book this scholar has written. http://www.hnn.us/articles/95308.html#

Peace,
D

Basically, more food means more people.

How do you explain the facts that Europe has more food than ever in its history yet its birth rate has been declining for years?

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Okay, thanks for the explanation. So is this report saying that even if there are declining birth rates, increased wealth will mean declining death rates as well so the overall population won't actually go down? Hmmm, I'll have to think about this, but thanks for the response.

I'm Catholic (Altar Boy late 1960s Holy Redeemer Evansville IN), the World food situation will never be solved... sorry to say. Government corruption / Greed for MONEY and Greed for CONTROL! Look below about WFP-IFAD-FAO...
Found this website and thought I'd share. Very Good website for someone who wants the UNITED NATIONS and WORLD Instant Up-To-The-Minute News ALL from ONE PLACE! Press Releases, Speech, and Various Transcripts / Documents with PDFs to PRINT

http://www.UnitedNationsUS.com
It is NOT a blog website! Get info, then come back here to write your thoughts!

UN overall General News with 5 World geographical areas defined and 10 subject areas such as Worldwide Human Rights, World Pease and Security, Humanitarian Aid and Refugees

The materialistic binge predates Reagan, Ando.

Thirty years ago next week, on July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered his (in)famous "crisis of confidence" speech, sometimes labeled the "malaise" speech, even though Carter never used that word. Here are two excerpts:

"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose."

"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."

Clearly, materialism and consumerism were on Carter's mind as issues the nation needed to confront that night.

The beginning of the materialistic binge probably can be dated sometime during the Vietnam War era, at the time when consumerism began trumping productivity--the time when we began importing more goods than we were exporting.

You are absolutely right that taking on the corporate powers won't be enough. We need to confront this problem as individuals and as a society, because we all are part of the problem. Carter's words, whatever any of us thought of his presidency at the time, were prophetic.

The Flaws in "Redistributive Justice".

The idea that those with wealth must, by the compulsion of law and penalty, give to those who have little has a spiritual flaw, a political flaw, an ethical flaw and an economic flaw.

The spiritual flaw is thinking that this equates to charity. Charity is grounded in a compassionate heart not compulsion. The spiritual benefit to both the giver and receiver are in grave danger in any system that makes charitable giving compulsory.

The political flaw is that in every compulsory redistribution system, there must be an entity that decides what gets redistributed to whom. This may work well when a benevolent and reasonably altruistic person runs that entity, but the very creation of the entity creates a point of power which will eventually be sought by those who would use power for their own sake.

The ethical flaw is the assumption that it is 'just' to redistribute wealth. Most people of wealth have worked hard and made great sacrifices to attain their wealth. Many people who are now hard-working and poor aspire to be hard-working and well-off. It seems manifestly unjust to take from someone who works 11 hour days while continuing to improve their knowledge and skills and give to someone who punches the clock and puts in their 8 hours.

The economic flaw is two-fold. First, the assumption that productivity and thus wealth will continue to be produced at the same pace under a system that involves compulsory redistribution of the product of a person's labor. Each person is motivated by whatever motivates them. The individual liberty to use the product of your labor as you see fit is the most universal motivator of labor and productivity. The idea that people will work as hard when they get to keep less and less gravely mistakes what motivates hard work. As wealth redistribution increases, the overall productivity of a society will decrease because those who would otherwise choose to work long and hard to increase their earnings are less motivated.

Second, people who are motivated to 'get ahead,' in a society that emphasizes 'redistributive justice,' will get ahead through befriending the right people and saying the right things

Looking back at the above posts, I believe much of what Jimmy Carter said. However, I think that people need to be won over to that view through passionate dialogue of heart and mind. You cannot legislate the kinds of things Jimmy Carter was talking about. That is my big bone to pick with Sojourners, not the values they espouse, but their idea that government provides the solution. Power is not the solution. When did Jesus use power?