The Pope and Godless Capitalism (Globalism)

Real Clear Politics ^ | May 3, 2013 | Pat Buchanan

[Colonel Kangaroo]

"This is called slave labor," said Pope Francis.

The Holy Father was referring to the $40 a month paid to apparel workers at that eight-story garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed on top of them, killing more than 400.

"Not paying a just wage ... focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at personal profit. That goes against God!"

The pope is describing the dark side of globalism

Why is Bangladesh, after China, the second-largest producer of apparel in the world? Why are there 4,000 garment factories in that impoverished country which, a few decades ago, had almost none?

Because the Asian subcontinent is where Western brands -- from Disney to Gap to Benetton -- can produce cheapest. They can do so because women and children will work for $1.50 a day crammed into factories that are rickety firetraps, where health and safety regulations are nonexistent.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

The pope seems to think that there's a higher morality than that of the marketplace and bottom line. Ayn Rand would not be pleased.

[count-your-change]

As usual in such discussions is the question of why anyone would work for such low wages as is the simple answer: Because the alternative is worse.

[James C. Bennett]

Bangladesh, without those jobs, starves. It's history proves it.

Let's revisit old times, right here in the West:

http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html

[Zajko]

I felt that what he was saying was more along the lines that morality and the marketplace are not (and should not) be mutually exclusive. One phrase used in the article is ‘capitalism without a conscience’ - and if that phrase doesn’t fit this tragedy, where well over 1,000 (far more than the 400 stated in the article) died, I’m not sure what does.

Saying that a business run for profit could and should also be run in a decent, moral way, isn’t, I don’t think, in any way anti-capitalist. On the contrary, capitalism, being fundamentally more ‘moral’ than socialism, should be taking the ‘high ground’ on issues such as this.

There IS something wrong with packing 3500 women and young kids into a totally unsafe structure and working them until the building collapses on top of them - from both a moral perspective (clearly) and also a capitalistic one (such an event obviously doesn’t make the business owner any money).

[jacknhoo]

Kind of reminds me of the Tea Party - capitalism without God.
Fiscal conservatism with social Liberalism.

[ArrogantBustard]

There IS something wrong with packing 3500 women and young kids into a totally unsafe structure and working them until the building collapses on top of them - from both a moral perspective (clearly) and also a capitalistic one (such an event obviously doesn’t make the business owner any money).

Are you sure it doesn't make any money? If the operations in the building produced enough revenue to exceed all costs (including construction) then the owners were making money on it.

[jacknhoo]

Morality matters.

[central_va]

There are plenty of once great textile factories all over the south that could handle all of our needs that sit empty. As a matter of fact most of them were non union.

Funny thing to tear down a factory and put up a WalMart to sell Chinese garments. Ironic.

[Zajko]

Taking into account the fact that the business owner is now in custody, facing a long jail sentence, and the upcoming compensation claims from 1000+ families, on top of the loss of the building, the revocation of his licence to operate any form of commerce, the confiscation of his assets and the fact that after the publicity surrounding this case, no international company would touch any business connected with him with a barge-pole, at any time in the future, in any case - then yes, I’m pretty sure he didn’t come out of this affair ‘in front.’

My point was a more general one really, though: ensuring that the premises you provide for your staff are basically structurally sound and not liable to collapse on top of them makes both business and moral sense.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

As usual in such discussions is the question of why anyone would work for such low wages as is the simple answer: Because the alternative is worse.

This is very true.

But in this specific case, as part of the implicit contract, the employees weren't expecting to be incinerated.

So I would categorize this case, economically speaking, as fraud, and, criminally speaking, as manslaughter.

[ArrogantBustard]

Taking into account the fact that the business owner is now in custody etc.

I'd say he rolled the dice and lost. Drug cartels work the same way this guy tried ...

My point was a more general one really, though: ensuring that the premises you provide for your staff are basically structurally sound and not liable to collapse on top of them makes both business and moral sense.

I agree.

[markomalley]

The pope seems to think that there's a higher morality than that of the marketplace and bottom line. Ayn Rand would not be pleased.

I'll take your word for it on Ayn Rand. I don't pretend to be an expert on her.

Having said that, there are two immutable principles that I have learned in my life:

• If you don't maintain your machines, they will eventually break.
• If you don't treat your employees like human beings, they will eventually break.
• Either scenario might end up breaking you.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

In the long run, capitalism wont work without God and morality. The society-destroying product of the entertainment industry is illustrative. Lenin may yet be proven right about who was going to sell the rope to hang themselves.

[IbJensen]

The Novus Ordo Catholic Church needs to realize that it’s mission handed from Jesus Christ to Peter was to save souls and keep out of politics. Politics is indeed the road to perdition.

This new Argentinian pope is no different that his predecessors who turned a blind eye while the Church reinvented itself into a pretzel-shaped multi-mission entity. Today, tragically, the ‘Catholic’ church varies from country to country, but the realization that an entire new religion was formed over the past 50 plus years has yet to sink in to most.

[Hardastarboard]

Ayn Rand would not be pleased.

Actually, I'm not pleased either. This is an economically illiterate statement by His Holiness. If you want to talk about Godless economic systems, let's look at a certain economic system that systematically killed 100 million people in the 20th Century. You all know the one I'm talking about. It's the one whose ideology underpins the modern Democrat Party. Yes, I said it out loud.

As usual in such discussions is the question of why anyone would work for such low wages as is the simple answer: Because the alternative is worse.

count-your-change is of course correct, and the post after his as well - to us, these jobs are nightmares. To Bangladesh, they're the difference between extremely hard work in dangerous conditions, or outright starvation. These jobs are the first rung up on the ladder, as anyone with more than 10 cents worth of economic education knows (which pretty much excludes the entire Democrat Party, and especially Paul Krugman).

[trubolotta]

Years ago I worked on a project for major American corporation to build a plant in Mexico. That plant was built to American standards for fire protection and safety. I have a friend currently trying to upgrade Chinese manufacturing facilities to American standards. In both facilities, wages are not comparable to those in the US but if they were, they would not have been built. Additionally, the air compressors made in Mexico and the paints made in Chia are primarily for those markets.

Whoever owned and built the facilities in Bangladesh is responsible, not capitalism. We have no idea what the building standards are and which were violated, what officials were bribed or what contractors cut corners. This is so typical in the third world but the idea they can be raised to our standards overnight is ludicrous. They cannot afford what I call “affordable righteous indignation” which is the world the Pope lives in. As the people of Bangladesh lift themselves out of poverty, they can then demand and build safer facilities. We cannot ordain them and can only hurt them by refusing to buy what they make. We can’t gift them out of poverty either.

A fair wage is what the market bears and that is better than no wage. A fair wage is the starting point for greater prosperity, no wage is the end point of poverty. No one says they have to die to achieve prosperity. It is up to the people Bangladesh to make those corrections or accept the risks based on their decision about their future.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

If you don't treat your employees like human beings, they will eventually break.

The idea with some seems to be that you're not a good manager if you don't treat your workers like dogs.

I suspect that part of the problem is that many with wealth and authority lack real experience with doing useful physical labor and so they lack respect for such work and those that do it.

[markomalley]

I suspect that part of the problem is that many with wealth and authority lack real experience with doing useful physical labor and so they lack respect for such work and those that do it.

My opinion is that the excesses of the early part of the industrial age opened the door for trade-unionism and its cousin, socialism.

The excesses of trade-unionism opened up the door to excessive government regulation and the creation of the welfare state (the step-child of socialism) and its excessive taxes.. The combination opened up the door to off-shoring factories.

And now we are seeing in places like China and Bangladesh the conditions that existed in much of the Western World in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Far better to recognize that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and to treat each other accordingly. IMHO.

[mc5cents]

This new Argentinian pope is no different that his predecessors who turned a blind eye while the Church reinvented itself into a pretzel-shaped multi-mission entity.

Michael Voris doesn't think so. Watch here.

[Zajko]

I completely agree with you, and made no comment on the issue of the wages these workers were paid - I’m sure they were happy to have jobs in the first place. I merely observed that getting your entire workforce killed because (a) your building has (as in this case) had 3 floors added to it illegally and against the architect’s advice, and (b) you’ve ignored warnings from your engineers in the weeks prior to this disaster that the building was unsafe, because you don’t want to lose production for a few days while these issues are fixed, is both morally unaceptable and bad business.

And yes, I agree, the same standards as apply in the U.S. can’t be applied elsewhere overnight, even if they should be eventually (sometimes debatable in itself). My point, which I think is fundamentally similar to yours, is that to tarnish or criticise ‘capitalism’ because of issues such as this one, where cronyism, corruption and blatant immorality are in fact the discerning factors at play, is nonsense. Capitalism and morality are not mutually exclusive, nor should they be governed by the same authorities or sets of rules. They can and do, however, often exist interdependently.