“Just as the unity of human society cannot be founded on an opposition of classes, so also the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching.” Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931)Although largely unnoticed in the Catholic press, there has been an odd shakeup at First Things magazine. Once the grand old dame of Catholic neoconservativism, First Things has, over the past two years, dared to question one of the sacrosanct tenets of Catholic neoconservativism: free market economics.
In June of 2016, First Things published an article by David Bentley Hart titled, “Mammon Ascendant: Why Global Capitalism is Inimical to Christianity.” In his piece, Hart, an Orthodox (with a capital “o”) theologian at the University of Notre Dame, argues that the Reagan era coalition between fiscal and social conservatives has “largely collapsed” and big business is now allied with the political left.
Hart’s analysis of the alignment of much of the corporate world with the radical left is no shocker. Gay couples have become de rigueur for television programs and advertisements for everything from Coca Cola to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. However, Hart’s primary point is free market economics goes hand in hand with moral degeneracy. (more...)
There's something to be said for placing restraints on the racketeers.
I understand from what I have read, is he an Americanist to the core.
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