Why Catholics Don't Understand Economics

Inside Catholic ^ | 8/30/2010 | Jeffrey Tucker

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Ping to read later.

[sitetest]

There’s a word for what you describe: subsidiarity. It is at the foundation of Catholic social teaching.

[from occupied ga]

Occupied GA's tagline is right on. It's not a poor person - or sick person, immigrant, or Catholic bishop - on your doorstep with a gun, as a rule: it's our very own government.

yes at the first level you're absolutely right; however, it is the poor people, the illegal immigrants who are empowering the government to loot the fruits of our labors. They're not entirely blameless. You have the thieves (government) and the receivers of stolen goods (your aforementioned categories) working in concert to empower themselves at our expense. The Catholic heirarchy should stick to faith and morals, not wealth distribution.

[Tax-chick]

The Catholic heirarchy should stick to faith and morals, not wealth distribution.

I agree with that.

However, I don't think that the worst-off classes wield sufficient power to control legislators. I believe those in government promote dependency for their own purposes of ego and power-seeking, rather than responding to the pressure of election results.

[MoHamhead]

For years I've puzzled over the question of why Catholics have such trouble coming to terms with economics. This problem applies only to modern Catholics, for it was Catholics in 15th- and 16th-century Spain who systematized the discipline to begin with.

Actually, 15th-16th century Spain went down the drain economically because they couldn't figure out that adding a lot of money (gold from the New World) without adding corresponding wealth was a bad idea. So, it's really a case of "same as it ever was".

[from occupied ga]

However, I don't think that the worst-off classes wield sufficient power to control legislators.

Not entirely by themselves, I agree, but they provide a voting block that is very important to re-elect the looters. Dunno if you ever pay any attention to neal boortz (boortz.com), but he calls them the looters and the moochers. The looters being the government bureaucrats who to the stealing, and the moochers are the recipients who receive the stolen goods. The Democrats are always trying to increase the moocher block at the expense of the rest of us. Boortz's solution - one I thought of before he did was to have a person choose wheter to receive welfare or vote. The EBT card or the voter card. Never happen of course, which tells you that they are important to keep the thieves in power.

[markomalley]

A Catholic sensibility at the micro-level works wonderfully. In other words, a business owner caring about his employees and thier families and arranging pay, work and benefits accordingly. At the macro level, with government transfer payments, government “charity” is not charity, it is redistribution with jail as the consequence if you want to keep your own money rather than have the politicians distribute it to their favored groups and friends.

At a macro level, authentic Catholic social teaching does just fine, as well.

Authentic Catholic social teaching is characterized, among other things, by the principles of subsidiarity and participation.

Subsidiarity means that we accomplish things at the most immediate level possible and that we don't let higher social orders subvert the responsibilities of intermediate social orders.

Participation means that it is each person's responsibility to "get his hands dirty." Merely taking care of a problem by paying one's taxes does not meet the obligation.

Taken together, this means that it is the responsibility of each of us to care for our families, our neighbors, and so on. And not just to throw money at the issue but to actually be involved.

It is that spirit which prompted people to erect parish schools for the education of the youth, rather than to depend upon the federal government for education. It is that spirit which prompted people to build charity hospitals and orphanages. It is that spirit which prompted people to form mutual aid societies like the Knights of Columbus. Dependence upon government, which, admittedly, is preached from far too many Catholic pulpits, is the antithesis of authentic Catholic social doctrine.

A couple of citations:

79. As history abundantly proves, it is true that on account of changed conditions many things which were done by small associations in former times cannot be done now save by large associations. Still, that most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, remains fixed and unshaken in social philosophy: Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them.

80. The supreme authority of the State ought, therefore, to let subordinate groups handle matters and concerns of lesser importance, which would otherwise dissipate its efforts greatly. Thereby the State will more freely, powerfully, and effectively do all those things that belong to it alone because it alone can do them: directing, watching, urging, restraining, as occasion requires and necessity demands. Therefore, those in power should be sure that the more perfectly a graduated order is kept among the various associations, in observance of the principle of "subsidiary function," the stronger social authority and effectiveness will be the happier and more prosperous the condition of the State.

Pius XI, Quardagesimo Anno (1931)

---

In recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of State, the so-called "Welfare State". This has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. However, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the Welfare State, dubbed the "Social Assistance State". Malfunctions and defects in the Social Assistance State are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State. Here again the principle of subsidiarity must be respected: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.

By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbours to those in need. It should be added that certain kinds of demands often call for a response which is not simply material but which is capable of perceiving the deeper human need. One thinks of the condition of refugees, immigrants, the elderly, the sick, and all those in circumstances which call for assistance, such as drug abusers: all these people can be helped effectively only by those who offer them genuine fraternal support, in addition to the necessary care.

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 48 (1991)

It would be nice to hear talk about the above in pulpits far more universally than we currently do.

[November 2010]

It would be nice to hear talk about the above in pulpits far more universally than we currently do.
____________________________________________________________

Indeed. John Paul lived through the Polish occupation by the Soviet Union . . . and the Soviets were “masters” at fine words about helping the working class while oppressing them with raw government power. The problem is the left’s capture of a (majority?) of the US Catholic pulpits and seminaries. So many Catholic families in the USA, much less Latin America, are followers of Liberation Theology to greater or lesser extents. The Catholic Church is top down . . . and the top, at least until JPII was not very interested in combatting Marxist and sexual politics dressed up as religion. It’s infiltration and the Catholic Church has been a target, just like the universities and news rooms.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this issue.

[wideawake]

My thoughts are:

(1) Very few Americans have a good economic education. This certainly applies to American Catholics.

(2) The above article is written with very simplistic economic analysis: the author's statements regarding scarcity ignore the key economic principles of substitution and marginal utility. Saying that quantities of goods are "scarce" and "fixed" is misleading and is a forcing of economic thought into an inappropriate theological analogy.

(3) The foundations of modern economic analysis - including the preliminary investigations into price theory, monetary analysis, marginal utility and international trade were done by Catholics: the school of Salamanca, the Austrian School, Cantillon, the Physiocrats, etc. Adam Smith openly acknowledged his many debts to French economic research.

(4) What the Catholic Church has done a very good job of avoiding has been the elevation of economics to the central preoccupation of human activity. Much of what passes for "conservative economics" today is social Darwinism in drag. What the Catholic Church did a very poor job of from 1965-1985 was policing the "liberation theology" movement - whose advocates were very clever about championing the poor while pushing a Marxist analysis of society that is every bit as pernicious as the Darwinian analysis and as equally opposed to Scripture and Tradition as Darwin is. Liberation theology is now a spent force, but the damage wIll take decades to undo.

(5) The Church's three core principles of social teaching: (a) the God-given dignity of every human being (whether economically productive or not); (b) the preferential option for the poor and (c) the priority of subsidiarity in government are the foundation for an authentically Godfearing economics safeguarded against Darwinism and Marxism.

[Zionist Conspirator]

What the Catholic Church has done a very good job of avoiding has been the elevation of economics to the central preoccupation of human activity.

Economics can be the "central preoccupation of human activity" only for people who believe only matter exists. (This is not my original observation but that of a Catholic on the Internet I briefly corresponded with. We were both upset that all politicians and candidates wanted to talk about was economics and were remaining silent on moral issues.)

Much of what passes for "conservative economics" today is social Darwinism in drag.

Very true! I agree!

The Church's three core principles of social teaching: (a) the God-given dignity of every human being (whether economically productive or not)

The most important point of all. I'm sure you've read the same angry posts on FR that I have about "parasites" and "leeches." Perhaps they should all starve and "decrease the surplus population" (in Scrooge's immortal words)? All these "parasites" and "leeches" were created by G-d and have spiritual souls. Not that that matters to some people.

I've never understood the attraction of social Darwinism ("pull yourself up by your own bootstraps") to Calvinists ("it's impossible to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps").

Thank you, wideawake. I knew your observations would be rewarding for all who read them.

[verdugo]

re: The above article is written with very simplistic economic analysis:

I agree. The author says nothing in a lot of paragraphs. Your points say a lot in few words. THANKS for saving me time.

[redgolum]

Good points.

And it also shows why the modern Conservative movement will fail in the end. The driving force has been about economics, and more to the point, the leader's personal economics. There is only a little lip service to the social problems that are destroying the west from within.

I see it every day on FR, and you see it a lot more than me. Many here only measure the worth of a person in dollars and cents, and then only in how much it costs them.

[ex-snook]

"Why Catholics Don't Understand Economics"

Because Jesus was a Socialist because He was concerned about the poor?

[NHResident]

You are, unfortunately, exactly right. We are suffering from the results of the ecclesiastical ‘Gay Mafia’ and ‘Liberation Theologists’ that took over the American RC Church in the 60’s and through to the late ‘80’s. It’s going to be a long road back to normal.

[NHResident]

I’m afraid you misunderstand the article perhaps because your are reading it without context. You should read more carefully.

The author is discussing and describing ECONOMICS which attempts to explain how a market operates in the real world. Economics is NOT moral theology. It has no more to do with morality than the law of Gravity.

The author touches on theology to point out that it is a separate topic as pointed very eloquently by St. Augustine.

If you are sincerely interested in learning the role of the Catholic Church has played in the development of Economic Theory (and free markets), I suggest you read Thomas E. Wood book How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. It is extremely easy to understand and VERY enlightening.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I see it every day on FR, and you see it a lot more than me. Many here only measure the worth of a person in dollars and cents, and then only in how much it costs them.

Worth repeating.

[Salvation]

**Authentic Catholic social teaching is characterized, among other things, by the principles of subsidiarity and participation. **

What You [Catholics] Need to Know: Subsidiarity, [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]

[Salvation]

Amen to your post. It bugs me a lot. I think that more important than the dollars and cents is the time we give to God.

[Salvation]

 

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CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1885  (249 bytes )  preview document matches 5 The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1885.htm

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CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1894  (194 bytes )  preview document matches 4 In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1894.htm

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CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1883  (524 bytes )  preview document matches freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1883.htm

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4:	CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2209  (367 bytes )  preview document matches helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2209.htm

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CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1885  (249 bytes )  preview document matches 5 The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1885.htm

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CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1894  (194 bytes )  preview document matches 4 In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1894.htm

96%

3:

CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 1883  (524 bytes )  preview document matches freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a community of a higher order should not interfere URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1883.htm

95%

4:	CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2209  (367 bytes )  preview document matches helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2209.htm