“What the Pope Gets Wrong about Capitalism,” by the criminally underrated David Harsanyi:
For starters, it’s troubling that the Pope fails to make any genuine distinction between Western poverty (terrible) and the poverty of the Third World (unimaginably terrible). But is it really true that “absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation” are the driving reasons for poverty and inequality? People in places like Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Malawi, or Mozambique live under corrupt authoritarian regimes where crippling poverty has a thousand fathers — none of them named capitalism. The people of Togo do not suffer in destitution because of some derivative scheme on Wall Street or the fallout from a tech IPO. (…)
Moreover, the Pope falls into the trap of conflating inequality and poverty. Some countries enjoy income parity because most citizens are rich and others because most citizens are poor. Put it this way: Egypt, Pakistan, and Mongolia all enjoy more economic equality than the United States. The GDP per capita here is $49,800. In a country like Argentina, the Pope’s homeland, a place where wealth is more fairly distributed, it’s $18,200.
In other words, “equality” is overrated.
As I keep saying…
But what about what the Pope gets wrong about Islam?
“Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should lead us to avoid hateful generalisations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.“
Willfully stupid and dangerous.
Then we hear all about Cardinal Mahoney in today’s L.A. Times — a typical lefty clergyman who cared more about abstract “humanity” (and his own ambitions) than about real individuals with real problems.
I wish the Church would get its stories straight.
We are forever being told that the hierarchy made the mistake of “listening to experts and professionals.” Yet we hear that when Mahoney asked a lawyer what to do and he said “go to the cops” — Mahoney got another lawyer!
I’m also sick of the “psychiatrists told us pedophiles could be treated” excuse.
OK, let’s say you kept believing that despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
Well, if psychiatry is so wonderful, why didn’t you spring for counselling for any of your priests’ victims, not just for the priests themselves?
