Friday, December 27, 2013

Advice for the Pope

Francis the Talking Pope should take to heart the idea propounded by the authors of Freakonomics:
"If morality represents how people would like the world to work then economics shows how it actually does work."
And then he should shut up more often.

This is clearly a man in love with his own good intentions. He's very clear (and wrong) about "unfettered capitalism" leaving "the poor" with nothing. (Pretty well anything they do have is a product of capitalism, btw.) But he seems to lack any critical facility at all when it comes to the results of his own reckless and romantic embrace of anybody with a toothache, while blaming "the rich and powerful" for their suffering. Cartoon thinking.

Sounds like a stereotypical Argentinian.
Evita Peron in a cassock.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Francis refers to the parasitic "capitalism" that has become commonplace in America, then I can sympathize. Political donations in exchange for contracts, subsidies, etc. (witness Solyndra and Obamacare) violate the principle that government intrusion into a normal market does more harm than good. Liberals forget that all systems, whether political, physical, or economic, have imperfections. Just as a pendulum throws off a little energy with each swing as friction, so poverty and income inequality may simply be an unavoidable consequence of a functioning system in an imperfect world.

-Sean

Unknown said...

Argentina-Exibit A in the "Why Latin/Catholic cultures don't do as well making societies as Germanic/Protestant cultures" sociology fair.
Could have ended up another Australia or New Zealand; more like Calabria or Andalusia with palm trees and lots of cows.

Anonymous said...

What about Catholic cultures makes them ill-disposed to making societies, out of curiosity?

-Sean

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