[Alex Murphy]

Liberals have consistently abused Christian teaching to attack free enterprise and spread socialism. These are not just Catholics, of course. In fact, most -- or all -- of them are not really Christians at all, but rather only leftists hoping to fool enough Christians to tip the balance politically. How can anyone give anything to the poor without earning money first? Without capitalism, free enterprise, and markets, charity suffers. Capitalism is the engine that makes giving to the poor possible. In other words, liberals who wrap themselves in Christianity concoct a false choice, insisting that charity and capitalism are polar opposites.

"Since the origins of modern capitalism around 1780, more than two-thirds of the world’s population has moved out of poverty. In China and India alone, more than 500 million have been raised out of poverty just in the last forty years. In almost every nation the average age of mortality has risen dramatically, causing populations to expand accordingly. Health in almost every dimension has been improved, and literacy has been carried to remote places it never reached before.

Whatever the motives of individuals, the system has improved the plight of the poor as none ever has before. The contemporary left systematically refuses to face these undeniable facts."
-- Robert Novak, from the thread Economic Heresies of the Left (Novak on Caritas in Veritate)

[steelhead_trout]

“”Since the origins of modern capitalism around 1780, more than two-thirds of the world’s population has moved out of poverty. In China and India alone, more than 500 million have been raised out of poverty just in the last forty years. “

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That dates the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. So maybe it was technology—which capitalism was happy to use—which lifted so many out of poverty.