“While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good.” The full remarks of the Pope are here.

I wish the Pope had simply said that States are a vehicle for the corruption of crony capitalism and that genuine capitalism and free markets are much closer to being a biblical ideal. I wish he had said that States are inherently corrupt and corruptible and that the incentives built into States assure their corruption and corruptibility. I wish he had not used the phrase “absolute autonomy” to describe markets. They can’t get such autonomy without the State’s power. I wish he hadn’t blackened the name of financial speculation, which is part and parcel of the efforts of human beings to look ahead and adjust current market prices to their expected values in the future. I wish he had said that States are supposed to act for the common good, rather than used the term “provide” for the common good.

The Best of Michael S. Rozeff