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The Vatican Calls For An End to Capitalism
Topic Started: Nov 1 2011, 07:03 AM (955 Views)
Chris
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The church joins leftists against the free market and calls for a one world state.

The Vatican Calls For An End to Capitalism
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Adding a spiritual dimension to the incoherent war on capitalism rapidly spreading across Europe and America, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, an official Vatican body, last week published a sweeping scholarly tome calling for the end of capitalism, individualism, free markets, and national sovereignty. Sound far-fetched? Consider what the proposal would entail.

Under the Council's proposal, the fiscal and monetary authorities of all nations of the world, as well as that of all financial institutions both public and private, are to be gradually subjugated under a supranational public authority with universal jurisdiction. This is to be financed by a global central bank empowered to collect a tax on all financial transactions. This bank would regulate all monetary exchange while also having the authority to promote global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity. It could also contribute to the creation of a world reserve fund to support the economies of countries hit by crisis.

This reform process is to be managed by the United Nations, whose mandate will be to act on behalf of the common good. Details as to what constitutes the common good are left to the reader's imagination.

I am not making any of this up; most of the words above come directly from the document. You can read it yourself on the Vatican website. I read it four times before I came to the conclusion that it was not published by The Onion....

Stripping out the intellectual semantic packaging, the essential concept of the Vatican's proposal is that the means of production are to remain in private hands but the objectives to which that production is put, the capital allocated to enable it, and the wealth that is created from it are to be directed by a central authority.

In truth, this is not communism. It is fascism....


IOW, liberal fascism.
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Banandangees
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Should that mean that the Vatican's riches should be confiscated and placed under central, secular authority with redistributed as needed to the needy. That would be a welcomed show of Vatican sincerity.. a gesture for what they are recommending about capitalism.

What is the need for Gothic structures, long tasseled gowns and phylactorial devices when Christ is the only Temple needed? Somehow, I think that Mother Theresa might find that fitting.
Edited by Banandangees, Nov 1 2011, 07:29 AM.
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Chris
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Doubt it, aren't they a higher authority?
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Thumper
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Nuke the catlickers.
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retired
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along with the baptists and lutherans.
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tomdrobin
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Another take on the story.

Quote:
 
With protesters taking to the streets around the world to fight for better income equality and economic opportunities for the poor and middle classes, the Vatican called Monday for an overhaul of world’s financial systems and a return to a global economy based on ethical behavior and “achievement of a universal common good,” the AP reports. While the Vatican has, in the past, criticized uncontrolled capitalism, the new call goes further, decrying “an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls.”

The call for greater control and equality in financial markets comes at a time when Republican presidential candidates — many of whom tout their religious credentials on the campaign trail — have called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law aimed at preventing a crisis similar to that of 2008, and as Republicans in both Congress and on the campaign trail continue to back budget cuts that would eviscerate programs that help the poor. At the same time, protesters spurred by the original Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have brought increasing attention rising income inequality, corporate greed, and tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The Vatican release is a clear sign that it supports the message of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton, said in a press release:


While conservative leaders and several presidential candidates want to eviscerate financial reform, the Vatican has sent a powerful message that prudent regulation of our financial system is a moral priority. I expect Catholic neo-cons who usually present themselves as the defenders of orthodoxy will ignore or scramble to defuse this timely teaching. It’s clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation.”

This isn’t the first time faith leaders have spoken out against so-called religious conservatives who have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy and repealing financial regulations over helping low-income Americans. A group of Catholic bishops signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) — both practicing Catholics — during the debt limit fight, denouncing budget cuts that disproportionately hurt the poor. Other religious leaders made similar calls, with Rev. Jim Wallis telling Republicans, “We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. … The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.”[/quote]

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10/24/351277/the-vatican-calls-for-economic-equality-reform-of-world-financial-system/
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Chris
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tomdrobin
Nov 1 2011, 12:33 PM
Another take on the story.

Quote:
 
With protesters taking to the streets around the world to fight for better income equality and economic opportunities for the poor and middle classes, the Vatican called Monday for an overhaul of world’s financial systems and a return to a global economy based on ethical behavior and “achievement of a universal common good,” the AP reports. While the Vatican has, in the past, criticized uncontrolled capitalism, the new call goes further, decrying “an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls.”

The call for greater control and equality in financial markets comes at a time when Republican presidential candidates — many of whom tout their religious credentials on the campaign trail — have called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law aimed at preventing a crisis similar to that of 2008, and as Republicans in both Congress and on the campaign trail continue to back budget cuts that would eviscerate programs that help the poor. At the same time, protesters spurred by the original Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have brought increasing attention rising income inequality, corporate greed, and tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The Vatican release is a clear sign that it supports the message of the Occupy Wall Street protests, Vincent J. Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton, said in a press release:


While conservative leaders and several presidential candidates want to eviscerate financial reform, the Vatican has sent a powerful message that prudent regulation of our financial system is a moral priority. I expect Catholic neo-cons who usually present themselves as the defenders of orthodoxy will ignore or scramble to defuse this timely teaching. It’s clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation.”

This isn’t the first time faith leaders have spoken out against so-called religious conservatives who have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy and repealing financial regulations over helping low-income Americans. A group of Catholic bishops signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) — both practicing Catholics — during the debt limit fight, denouncing budget cuts that disproportionately hurt the poor. Other religious leaders made similar calls, with Rev. Jim Wallis telling Republicans, “We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. … The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.”[/


http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10/24/351277/the-vatican-calls-for-economic-equality-reform-of-world-financial-system/
Yes, a progressive view from socialism/fascism that abhors liberty and seeks a one world government.

Yes, some in the financial sector were overly greedy, but they only followed the incentives created by a government bent not on protecting individual pursuit of happiness, but on providing that happiness by redistributing wealth in exchange for more and more power over our lives.

Uncontrolled capitalism, no rules, no controls, it's a nice straw man that no one argues for. You can't have a free market without laws protecting private property, contracts and other liberties.
Edited by Chris, Nov 1 2011, 08:15 PM.
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Mike
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The threat we face is liberty and capitalism entrusted to unethical and immoral people. What's being expressed in the marketplace is the rot and decadence within the players. Until people change on the inside, you will continue to see expressed in corporations and financial centers the greed and unfettered power of a corrupt society. And this rot and decay, this lack of morality and justice is not traits held by just those in power.

It will be interesting to observe how the world will change in the coming months and years. This institutions that remain and those that no longer exist. How markets will evolve and where the power will become diluted and distributed. I believe there is a natural balance that has a power all it's own and continually seeks to express itself.
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Banandangees
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Who and what is more unethical and immoral than politicians and governments.... and we are to entrust them with our economy and private businesses. Unethical and immoral in the private sector eventually get caught and are put in prison (Madoff) or run out of business (Enron) but politicians (Charles Rangel tax evasion) are often reelected and governments go on and on in spite of their costly blunders.
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Chris
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Agree with both of you, the problem is one of ethics/morals. As Madison put it, Federalist 51, if men were angels, they'd have no need for government, likewise, if government wwas run by angels, wed have no need for limitations and checks on it.

Who among you want government deciding moral issues for you?
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