Pope Bashes Capitalist Pigs and Piglets!

Attention capitalist pigs and piglets: Pope Francis is on to you. Listen to him: You still can be saved from yourselves—and others like you. His message should inspire the vast majority of people of all religions (or none), not just Catholics, to transform the world economy for the better; it isn’t just some wishy-washy plea on behalf of the poor; it identifies the root causes of poverty and assigns blame—and it ain’t a pretty picture but it’s the truth.

            In his November 24^th Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” the Pope damns “supply-side” economics (aka Reaganomics), the destructive mantra of greed-is-good America: “some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.” He even calls “trickle-down” a total fiction: “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

            The Pope blames the thugs of the free-market for poverty: “Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”

            He is appalled that the rich get richer at the expense of the poor: “While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few.” He condemns unbridled capitalism: “The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become[s] the only rule.”

            In short, the Pope says “No” to everything from being beguiled by consumer goods and “increasing profits by reducing the work force” to amassing private property for the sake of it. He says “Yes” to “the creation of a new mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priority of the life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few.” He asks a basic question which should stir every conscience: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”

            The Pope is “killing the United States softly with his song.” He doesn’t mention this country by name, but he doesn’t have to: Everyone knows that it’s us. We are the villains in his indictment of the free market excesses that in recent years nearly destroyed the world economy. With a vengeance, for the past 33 years, our leaders have espoused everything to which he says “No.” The result has been an increasing number of the hopelessly poor, obscene levels of the unemployed, and a shrinking middle class. It’s so bad, that a majority of the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court believes in trickle-down economics and hands down decisions in the interest of corporations and the rich at the expense of the rights of average Americans. A vocal, obstructionist minority of both houses of Congress would gut government at all levels and let the free market reign, no matter who suffers. 

            The Pope is also “killing Florida softly with his song.” For the past 15 years, the Sunshine State has lived under the thrall of trickle-down economics, ever since Republicans gained control of the governor’s mansion and both houses of the state Legislature. Even now, before the next legislative session, the powers-that-be are carving up the state budget in the same-old, same-old ways: proposing tax breaks and incentives for corporations that move to Florida and promise to create jobs (which almost never materialize); looking to privatize state services to create cash cows for most favored businesses; considering subsidies for sports arenas and stadiums on the premise that they create jobs (which they don’t); reducing services for the poor and disabled.

            As long as there are Americans, there will continue to be pigs and piglets at the trough of the economy. As long as the Pope is the pope, I hope he will call a swine a swine. God knows, no one else will.

Stephen L. Goldstein writes op-ed columns every other Friday and Sunday for the Sun-Sentinel (Tribune paper in South Florida). He is also the author of Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned! It’s available on Amazon in paper and on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Drugged-Ayn-Rand-Damned/dp/1555717098/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387740363&sr=8-1&keywords=atlas+drugged+ayn+rand+be+damned