Pope Francis Understands Economics Better Than Most Politicians

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/11/27-3

Pope Francis is a pontiff who has constructively broken all the rules of popery – so far to widespread acclaim. He's faulted the Catholic church for its negative obsession with gays and birth control, and now he has expanded his mandate to economics with a groundbreaking screed denouncing "the new idolatry of money".

As the Pope wrote in his "apostolic exhortation":

The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings.
His thoughts on income inequality are searing:

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.

The pope's screed on "the economy of exclusion and inequality" will disappoint those who considers themselves free-market capitalists, but they would do well to listen to the message. Francis gives form to the emotion and injustice of post-financial-crisis outrage in a way that has been rare since Occupy Wall Street disbanded. There has been a growing chorus of financial insiders – from the late Merrill Lynch executive Herb Allison to organizations like Better Markets – it's time for a change in how we approach capitalism. It's not about discarding capitalism, or hating money or profit; it's about pursuing profits ethically, and rejecting the premise that exploitation is at the center of profit. When 53% of financial executives say they can't get ahead without some cheating, even though they want to work for ethical organizations, there's a real problem.

Pope Francis's Theory of Economics

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/pope-franciss-theory-of-economics/281865/


Pope Francis and, clockwise from top left: Keynes, Polanyi, Hayek, and Marx (Reuters/Giampiero Sposito/Wikimedia Commons)

It would make for some pretty amazing headlines if Pope Francis turned out to be a Marxist.

Between his hints at rehabilitating liberation theology—condemned by his predecessors—and talk about casting off "the economic and social structures that enslave us," Marxism isn't totally out of the question.

But happily for nervous church leaders, Francis's first Apostolic Exhortation, issued Tuesday, doesn't quite suggest someone who would get "Marx" in an Internet-style "Which Economic Theorist Are You?" quiz. Granted, he wouldn't exactly get Friedrich von Hayek or Ayn Rand, either.

But you know whom he might plausibly be matched with, though? A favorite political economist of anti-free market academics: Karl Polanyi.

Karl Polanyi is most famous for his book The Great Transformation, and in particular for one idea in that book: the distinction between an "economy being embedded in social relations" and "social relations [being] embedded in the economic system."

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

1. The Pope would look cool...

...with a beard like Karl Marx.

[MisterP]

6. nope--not since Alexander VIII, really

and I LOVE Polanyi!

and they've been saying no to capitalism since Gregory XVI

[Recursion]

2. Jesuits have to actually take math. Economists, shockingly, don't.

That was one thing that appalled me in grad school: the economists literally did not have to take even linear algebra. The Jesuits in Divinity School did. That always made an impression on me. That and the fact that the Jesuits would always show up when I would run a food drive for the homeless.

[Fumesucker]

3. The main thing politicians understand is how to get elected

Anything else is purely optional.

[FreakinDJ]

4. Most Working Class Citizens understand Economics better then politians

What we don't understand is how to vote them out of office after they take money from Wall St to screw us

[bluedeathray]

5. You MAY be right...

Then again, it seems there's plenty of evidence that Politicians understand economics pretty well (they've been shown to be able to read...)

But their masters don't pay for policies that benefit the masses.

But based on their (imbecilic) statements on TV, you just might have something there.

[Enthusiast]

7. I like Pope Francis the new pontiff! Kicked and recommended a bunch......nt

[woo me with science]

8. K&R