Tapsearch Com EditorFalling from Grace - Labor and work (LINK)
April 21st 2008 03:01
The current visit by Pope Benedict was an inspiring event for many. Two of the first five saints that were cannonized under his papacy, were dedicated to human dignity in the workday. One was Father Alberto Hurtado. He is a saint in the church and he lived in our times. He was an intellectual workers' priest who led the way for human dignity in the workday in Chile during the 1930s to 1950s.
I had hoped Pope Benedict would make some comments about our economic system that has failed the working poor in this country and across the globe due to so called Free Trade. Today the bottom 10th of American workers earn 6 percent less than their counterparts in Japan and 31 percent less than those in Western Europe according to Richard Freeman, a Harvard economist.
Pope John Paul ll made strong statements about our economic problems. He declared Christians must develop new economic systems. The Catholic Workers talk about decentralization as a major way. Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland which was a major reason for the downfall of the Soviet Union, says that he is only a consumer and knows very little about business and economics but he knows that when 10 percent of the population owns 100 percent control of the wealth something is very wrong.
I felt Pope Benedict did not talk about economic freedom during his visit as he should have. For me his reference to Solidarity, tended to lean towards centralized Globalization. I hope I am wrong.
In a talk in Spain a few years ago, Pope John Paul ll said Christians must develop a new economic and labor system that is more human than those formed by Marxism and a "neocapitalism" overly concerned with material benefits.
"It involves reshaping the world fo work and the economy into something new," the pope said at an outdoor Mass in Oviedo Spain. Christians must work for a new system "having within it the imprint of justice and beauty," Today's world shows "the failure of societies under atheistic materialism with its collectivist-bureaucratic organization of human labor,"
Having "no fewer problems" is the "neocapitalistic society, too often occupied with benefits which can alter the just balance of the labor world," he added. Neocapitalist society " also is affected by a growing materalistic culture," the pope said.
Christains should get the impluse for building this new system because they share " a common destiny of freedom inscribed in the economy of creation and redemption," he said.
Today our own economy is based on the survival of the fittest. With so called Free Trade, workers become the main commodities being traded based on the cheapest labor possible.
Workers have no voice in the process even though they are the core of society. Adam Smith held labor as something sacred and the core of society too. Today we have raw capitalism center stage in the global economy. Governments and giant corporations are joined at the hip. It is a bit like State Socialism where the leaders supposedly know what is best for the people and force them into a system under elite groupings. Alan Greenspan does not even have the term "free enterprise" in the index of his book - The Age of Turbulence. This tells the story of our times.
Back in 1995, the Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral statement about the need for greater economic justice and stated that the power and productivity of the U.S. economy sometimes seem to be leading to three nations living side by side. ( Senator Edwards was not the first to mention this division.)
The first nation is prospering and producting in new informatin age, coping well with new economic challenges. ( I question this as being the reality today. More than a million workers have lost their jobs in high tech. )
A second nation is squeezed by declining real incomes and global economic competition. They wonder if they will keep their jobs and health insurance. ( It is obvious millions did lose their jobs and health insurance.)
The third nation is growing more discouraged and despairing. Called an American underclass, their children are growing up desparately poor in the richest nation on earth. Their question at the end of the month is whether they can afford the rent or groceries or heat. ( And this was all stated back in 1995 .)
Sadly, I did not hear any references to the any of the above during Pope Benedict's visit to the USA. The immigration problem is a result of Free Trade. The US moved 4000 factories to Mexico and this did not stop the flood of Mexican workers to the U.S. seeking economic survival. In America, millions lost their due to the relocation of factories in Mexico and across the globe. This has translated to record breaking bankrupticies, lost of homes and the call for emergency food breaking records too. I wish someone would have taken Pope Benedict for a visit in one of the impoverished sections of Washington DC or New York.
Unfortunately, labor and work are the stepchildren of philosophy and religion.
I had hoped Pope Benedict would make some comments about our economic system that has failed the working poor in this country and across the globe due to so called Free Trade. Today the bottom 10th of American workers earn 6 percent less than their counterparts in Japan and 31 percent less than those in Western Europe according to Richard Freeman, a Harvard economist.
Pope John Paul ll made strong statements about our economic problems. He declared Christians must develop new economic systems. The Catholic Workers talk about decentralization as a major way. Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland which was a major reason for the downfall of the Soviet Union, says that he is only a consumer and knows very little about business and economics but he knows that when 10 percent of the population owns 100 percent control of the wealth something is very wrong.
I felt Pope Benedict did not talk about economic freedom during his visit as he should have. For me his reference to Solidarity, tended to lean towards centralized Globalization. I hope I am wrong.
In a talk in Spain a few years ago, Pope John Paul ll said Christians must develop a new economic and labor system that is more human than those formed by Marxism and a "neocapitalism" overly concerned with material benefits.
"It involves reshaping the world fo work and the economy into something new," the pope said at an outdoor Mass in Oviedo Spain. Christians must work for a new system "having within it the imprint of justice and beauty," Today's world shows "the failure of societies under atheistic materialism with its collectivist-bureaucratic organization of human labor,"
Having "no fewer problems" is the "neocapitalistic society, too often occupied with benefits which can alter the just balance of the labor world," he added. Neocapitalist society " also is affected by a growing materalistic culture," the pope said.
Christains should get the impluse for building this new system because they share " a common destiny of freedom inscribed in the economy of creation and redemption," he said.
Today our own economy is based on the survival of the fittest. With so called Free Trade, workers become the main commodities being traded based on the cheapest labor possible.
Workers have no voice in the process even though they are the core of society. Adam Smith held labor as something sacred and the core of society too. Today we have raw capitalism center stage in the global economy. Governments and giant corporations are joined at the hip. It is a bit like State Socialism where the leaders supposedly know what is best for the people and force them into a system under elite groupings. Alan Greenspan does not even have the term "free enterprise" in the index of his book - The Age of Turbulence. This tells the story of our times.
Back in 1995, the Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral statement about the need for greater economic justice and stated that the power and productivity of the U.S. economy sometimes seem to be leading to three nations living side by side. ( Senator Edwards was not the first to mention this division.)
The first nation is prospering and producting in new informatin age, coping well with new economic challenges. ( I question this as being the reality today. More than a million workers have lost their jobs in high tech. )
A second nation is squeezed by declining real incomes and global economic competition. They wonder if they will keep their jobs and health insurance. ( It is obvious millions did lose their jobs and health insurance.)
The third nation is growing more discouraged and despairing. Called an American underclass, their children are growing up desparately poor in the richest nation on earth. Their question at the end of the month is whether they can afford the rent or groceries or heat. ( And this was all stated back in 1995 .)
Sadly, I did not hear any references to the any of the above during Pope Benedict's visit to the USA. The immigration problem is a result of Free Trade. The US moved 4000 factories to Mexico and this did not stop the flood of Mexican workers to the U.S. seeking economic survival. In America, millions lost their due to the relocation of factories in Mexico and across the globe. This has translated to record breaking bankrupticies, lost of homes and the call for emergency food breaking records too. I wish someone would have taken Pope Benedict for a visit in one of the impoverished sections of Washington DC or New York.
Unfortunately, labor and work are the stepchildren of philosophy and religion.
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