Towards a Moral Economy

At the recently concluded Centesimus annus conference at the Vatican, leaders from countries around the world were invited to discuss the morality, or lack thereof, in the global economy, which Pope Francis has rightfully labelled as "the globalization of indifference".

Invitations to this conference were selective, made by the Pope himself. Having been schooled on the writings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, I found resonance with Francis's address before the conference.

If passion for justice and equality of opportunity is deemed political, then the the Pope is very political. Remember Jesus' annunciation of the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

In today's world of unbridled capitalism, in which corporations are allowed and even encouraged to ride roughshod over the majority of people, the Golden Rule has been twisted into: "He who has the gold makes the rules". This is a modern day tautology whereby greed justifies greed.

Imagine, the following discourse emanated from a truly moral man (and you would not be incorrect in so doing) being presented at the Centesimus annus conference, click on the link in that article--then click on Tony Arnette's internal link to Laudato si. You will find a speech of a moral man about a moral economy.

Please read the two linked inclusions in this post.

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polkageist's picture

Thanks for the links. I especially liked the descriptions on page three of the Laudato si article on American culture, values, and attitudes. His writing was quite clear and made the points about the immorality of neo-liberal economics and libertarian ideas without dense theological terms. This encyclical will have heads exploding in every boardroom on Wall Street and in the Fortune 500. I am so pleased to have Francis, who I feel is a successor to JohnXXIII, driving the money changers from the temple.

I'm a Buddhist and find agreement with our tenets in this document. Buddhism places man squarely in nature and teaches us to respect and work within nature. Francis is accentuating man's place as part of nature and I think that is quite good. (I know where the doctrinal landmines are here and prefer not to step on them.)

The propaganda since Reagan was elected has been virulent and unrelenting. All Presidents and most of the Congress in this time pushed it to the point where it had become gospel. With Bernie serving as a political focal point in this election and Francis adding the religious teaching, the people have finally found a way to vocalize and organize their deep revulsion of the vicious kind of capitalism that has been foisted on them. It's about time we stopped worshipping "the Market" as if it was a golden calf and remembered that trade is meant to benefit all of us.

Greed is not a virtue.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

JekyllnHyde's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTfTabMRRpw width:500 height:400]

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A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

riverlover's picture

Nice, old-fashioned plexi clips with a slot for a name, printed in large font on a printer. Someone humble in design, and re-usable.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Martha Pearce-Smith's picture

I feel that I must point out that pretty much every religion, organized or not, on the Planet, has a "Golden Rule" or an "Ethic of Reciprocity". Some believe, as I do, that it may be related to a fundamental part of human nature. I honestly believe that greed goes against most people's internal moral compass.

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Gerrit's picture

important for us progs: we must learn the principles of a moral economy, of democratic socialism, of Small Is Beautiful as Schumacher wrote.

I've written up two summaries so far of Schumacher's book, with inserts of Bernie's economic plans from his campaign website as applicable. They're long, but clear (I hope :=) I post them on weekends. Here is the link to yesterday's: http://caucus99percent.com/content/local-resilience-democratic-socialism...

(edited to add the #$%^ link :=)

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Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
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