Published by El Nuevo Herald on December 19, 2013
On last November 26, Pope Francisco presented its first apostolic exhortation called Gaudium Evangelii (The Joy of the Gospel). On this document of 50,000 words, the Supreme Pontiff, in addition to calling for a reform of the Church, also commented on the flaws in his judgment suffers the market economic system.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Argentine cardinal and now Bishop of Rome, criticized theories that assuming all growth framed in the free enterprise leads to greater equality and social inclusion in the world. According to him, "We can no longer rely on the blind forces and the invisible hand of the market".
The Holy Father called for greater state control over the economy, saying, "While the income of a minority is growing exponentially, the majority is collapsing."
Normally in classical economics of markets, supply and demand tend to balance themselves in a situation of free competition, where prices fluctuate according to the incidence of these factors.
However, sometimes government intervention is needed to complement the smooth course of the economy.
For example, in Washington state average daycare for two children is $ 1400 monthly. Even if both parents work, without public aid is difficult to secure the services of a nursery.
This is just one specific example, but overall state intervention has been critical to the economy, as we see with the abolition of slavery, the creation of Social Security, the minimum wage, unemployment insurance and Medicare.
The papal request for greater state intervention only reaffirms what has been and will remain our economic model.
Pope Francis said that we should say "no to an economy of exclusion and inequality ... more news is a drop of two points in the Stock Exchange, an old man dies of cold in the street, that's exclusion ... "
"Do not throw food when people are starving, that is inequality. "
Of course, many would say, if you go down two points in the Stock Exchange, it will reduce stock dividends and thus capital investment to create jobs.
There are many homeless on the street, which, although picked up daily, insist on staying in it.
Regarding the food that is thrown away, it is unlikely that it can produce, in time, a logistics work for distribution among the needy of each community.
Obviously, the Pope speaks figuratively when referring to the examples of exclusion and inequality.
For the Pope's statements Francisco, many could talk about the political tendency of the Holy Father.
In fact, the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh refers to papal document as "pure Marxism." Limbaugh's program is estimated to reach 15 million listeners daily. This radio interviewer, who is not Catholic, said that the pope's comments had been "sad and incredible."
Stuart Varney of Fox News, who belongs to the Episcopal Church, said: "I go to church to save my soul, this has nothing to do with my vote, I think the Pope wants to influence my political views."
The truth is that the Pope said: "The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike." Nor is against private property, which would eliminate Marxist characterization.
What can happen is that since his cardinal experience at his native Argentina, has witnessed profound social inequalities and too much state interference, typical of South American countries.
In the evolution of life, we see some people are successful and some not. Some start from nothing and achieve amass a fortune on own merit. No matter the ruling regime, capitalism, dictatorship, communism or state capitalism, some stand belonging to the privileged elite of the regime. Can be poets, writers, artists, athletes or businessmen. But in the end, always pursued, mostly, an economic objective.
The reality is that in the U.S., 1% of the population manages private resources of the nation, and that undoubtedly is the major cause of the economic crisis.
Right there is the opinion of the Holy Father. This is not Marxism. It's about investing in the country to create local jobs and fight poverty, not only internationalize capital for individual benefits, regardless of the fate of the world.
BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE
Economist and Journalist
No comments:
Post a Comment