http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2009/06/68493164/1 The Pope is now an Economist. When he gets to be an Accountant I might file my 1040 with him.
"...is precisely a lack of ethics in financial structures; it has been understood that ethics are not something ''outside' the economy but ''inside' it, and the economy does not work if it does not contain the ethical component" So he thinks less corruption, lies, and thievery is good for the economy. You dont agree? You think we need more of that for a good economy?
Modern day ethics: "I'll make the profits and you guys clean up the mess I make....." "the best government is the one that gives me complete freedom while it taxes and regulates everybody else..." "the law of the jungle is don't be a zebra" "peace in our time, the next generation is going to be absolutely broke anyhow" "spread the wealth around and you guys clean up the mess I make" "it's not theft it's socialism, besides I get the rake"
Our Economy was torn apart by fraud. Pope has a point. Pope makes no mention about tar and feathering, angry revenge on an entire generation of scoundrels. I feel his point is lacking violence, he makes a good point none the less.
No, I don't agree. No economy is devoid of people who are unethical. Therefore, a successful economy can only exist in the presence of what is and not what should be. Since there is no way to force unethical people to be ethical, we must focus on incentives. The present economic crisis occurred because governments skewed incentives toward risk and away from prudence. The fixes governments imposed will create more of the same moral hazard and will eventually result in a worse crisis. The Pope's job is to comment on ethics and morality in general. He is not literate enough in economics to open his trap on the subject. In this way, he is no better than Muslim clerics who ban fixed interest rates or interest rates of any kind and otherwise meddle in the private economic decisions of individuals. It's clear from his comments that he is absolutely ignorant of basic economics. That's fine. That's not his area of study. It's only not fine when he decides to comment on things he doesn't understand.
It wasn't fraud. It was taking too much risk, backed by the full faith and credit of your government. That is, you. If your government were not empowered to take as much of your money as it wants and hand it out to whomever pays the highest bribe (euphemistically called "campaign contribution), then nobody would be too big to fail and you wouldn't be forced to pay corporate welfare. Now, if you want to call the mafia operation in Washington "fraud" (and I do), then we're on the same page. It is pretty clear that the Pope understands none of this.
It's quite obvious the Pope is a piker and has no understanding of the John Nash "Fuck You Buddy" game whereby it is inherent in the DNA of every human to always choose the scenario by which the outcome is most beneficial to the chooser even if it has negative effects on the whole be it society. Who cares what the Pope says. How bout what the CEO of Disney has to say? Religions main competitor for grand works of fiction and story telling is Disney. Does Mickey Mouse or Goofy have any views they would like to share? How bout Uncle Remus? Did he lose his job working on the plantation since the owner probably borrorwed against that plantation and lost it in foreclosure? Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!
Nash was paranoid schizophrenic, so his paranoid schizophrenic theory means nothing. Normal people do not behave this way.