"The economic crisis is causing the loss of many jobs and this calls for a huge sense of responsibility by everyone: entrepreneurs, workers, governing officials," the pope said after his weekly Angelus blessing.
"I think of some difficult situations in Italy, like, for example, Termini Imerese and Portovesme ... Do everything possible to protect and spur job growth, assuring dignified and adequate work to sustain families."
Reuters
I wish that I could find some other reporting on this comment besides that supplied by Reuters. Professional journalists are no better than us bloggers in this respect. They take a news feed and run with it seemingly without checking it for accuracy or trying to add any clarification. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.
What I would like to know is exactly what the Pope expects? Does he believe that someone, whether it is business or the public sector, should create and fund work that is meaningless? Because if someone is paying somebody else to produce a product for which there is no market then someone is promoting pointless depletion of capital. And, since most governments are, for all intents and purposes, living on credit cards, this action would promote debt slavery for future generations. And if corporations are being asked to do this isn't the Pope essentially calling for a transfer of wealth from owners and investors to workers? For no profitable reason? Why should the workers reap the benefits of this largess at the expense of the owners and investors? Don't the owners and investors have needs and rights, too?
So I would like to know if the Pope has something specific in mind that I don't understand or if this comment was a knee jerk reaction of a European Socialist just looking to the government for the solution. I would like some follow up to this story instead of being left to hang.
But, I'm not going to hold my breath. This sort of reporting lends itself to the interest of those on the left that would love to see the Church side with the socialists. And, since the Church won't do that, leaving the impression that it has will have to suffice.
Posts
Catawissa,
ReplyDeleteI have to assume the comment was taken out of context. I don't believe the Pope expects that meaningless work be artifically created and we live off the debt burdened we're putting on future generations. His Holiness is smarter than that. It's more likely that this is an extracted comment or a "knee jerk" reaction of some kind for which we don't have all the details.
Ioannes,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this was probably not what the Pope meant. I think, once again, he has said something that was just ripe for the picking. The left biased journalists will parse and distort his words to suit their ends.
This being said, I wish that we would hear some sort of clarification on this from the Vatican. This story is all over the place and it is being used to distort Church teaching as a way to influence Catholics that are not well catechized.
The Vatican must know that this is being done. I realize that there is a certain detachment from the world at the home office but they need to do some damage control. The Pope's words, even though they were likely innocent and "off the cuff" are being used as a tool against the faithful. I know people, and yes even Catholics, that will point to this as further proof that the Church has been infiltrated by agents of Satan and that the Pope is just another one of them.
Sorry for the frustration but I'm tired of seeing this done over and over again. The Church needs to defend itself against ALL attackers. The faithful need the truth explained in a clear and concise manner so that we can counter the lies that we are faced with. I know that it is the responsibility of the individual to educate themselves but that doesn't excuse the Church from its greater responsibility.
You and I, because we've taken the time to educate ourselves, can see through this crap. Unfortunately, the average person in the pew doesn't read the daily paper much less encyclicals and Aquinas. And I can't blame them. This is not the most exciting stuff to read. I'm kind of a geek and theology and history get me going (you can bet I'm lots of fun at a party), so to me reading this stuff is as much fun as playing football is to a sports nut. But I'm not normal in this regard, or many others, just ask my wife.
The Church needs to start talking to the average guy. Take off the theologian and politician hats and go back to the basics. Use opportunities such as the distortion of truth presented in this biased reporting as a jumping off point to explain to the guy in the pew what the Church really teaches regarding economic systems and true "social justice". And do it in a way that is understandable to people that have at best only a passing acquaintance with their own native language. Keep it simple (even understanding how complex it really is in many cases).
The deposit of faith is so freakin' awesome! Open it up for the normal person so that they can see what is waiting for them. This would encourage many people to start to take the faith seriously and maybe start doing some reading on their own.
Catawissa,
ReplyDeleteI am speculating in the dark, but perhaps something like the following scenario is what the Pope is talking about.
I work in the US nuclear utility industry dominated by giants such as Exelon and Entergy. In fossil fueled power plants the single biggest expense is fuel, but in the nuclear industry, the single biggest expense is engineering personnel. Well, of course the utilities like to save on money even in the face of ever increasing regulations. So the utilities will get the capacity factor of their nukes up above 92% and then start laying off engineers. Then when plant performance drops off or regulatory issues surface (and that always happens), the utilities hire the people back, only to repeat the vicious cycle over again.
Exelon is notorious for this and could give a rat's you know what for its employees, and Entergy follows down the same path. So the utilities risk an event like the Davis Besse Reactor Pressure Vessel Head degradation event while they downsize (which they call right sizing). If they just kept the right number of people working, then engineers wouldn't get overloaded and mistakes wouldn't get made. But it's a game they play with the US NRC, and sooner or later they get hammered.
Well, maybe the Pope is talking about situations like these. He isn't talking about creating fake do-nothing jobs for fake do-nothing workers. He's talking about being responsible entrepeneurs and responsible workers - oh what a concept! A businessman should never try to cut corners with excessive layoffs that adversely impact regulatroy compliance. And workers should give an honest day's work for an honest day's wage, and expect to contribute to the well-being of the company. It's a two way street and it requires every to be responsible adult human beings.
Heck, all the Pope is telling us is to grow up and act like adults instead of greedy little brats who want the other kid's candy bar!
Ioannes,
ReplyDeleteI'm darkly speculating, too and I agree with what you have written. I just wish we weren't left to speculation.
This topic opens up another can of worms. In America, corporations are granted personhood as far as laws and taxation are concerned (too bad we can't do that for babies). Most of my conservative friends along with their icons Hannity and Limbaugh would argue that the primary purpose of a corporation is to generate profit. And, I would agree.
However, the very fact that corporations have assumed personhood would seem to me to obligate them to follow the same moral laws that real people are obligated to follow. And this would tie neatly into what we both assume the Pope is talking about.
I just wish we could get some clarification.