In an earlier post, I already set out my own attitude of humility
before the pope's encyclical. I recognize the respect due both
his office and his tremendous personal learning. There is no
question that what the pope has said about the nature of truth is
stupendously good.
In that post, I expressed a degree of unease with some of the
economic thought, at least as I perceived it, in the encyclical.
Looking it over again, here are the parts (more than any others)
that cause me the most trouble:
In section 32:
The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice
require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause
disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally
unacceptable manner and that we continue to prioritize the
goal of access to steady employment for everyone (italics
original to the document).
And then just a little further:
Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of
workers, or abandoning mechanisms of wealth distribution in
order to increase the country's international competitiveness,
hinder the achievement of lasting development.
Now, when I read those parts of the document, I recognize a type
of thinking about the economy that I would typically associate
with western Europe and pre-Thatcherite Britain. At least, it is
possible to interpret the document in that fashion. When I think
about prioritizing "the goal of access to steady employment for
everyone" I contemplate the kind of worker security initiatives
that slowly bankrupted General Motors or government programs that
subsidize anti-productive schemes for workers as a class.
I may be guilty of reading too much into the words I've selected
because I know the pope is a western European accustomed to
exactly the brand of economics which give rise to my concern.
The great question, of course, is what does the pope mean when he
says we must provide access to steady employment? Does he mean
that we should educate citizens and provide a culture that gives
individuals initiative and the desire to be productive so they
will be worth employing? Or does he mean that we should attempt
great governmental schemes of guaranteed employment for working
age people? Or does he mean both? Or something else entirely? I'm
not sure we can know because the pope says the church does not
offer technical solutions.
And when he writes about protecting the rights of workers and
retaining mechanisms of wealth redistribution it is difficult to
imagine he is referring to any action of the free market. But
again, it is difficult to say because he is purposefully vague.
What I keep thinking is that some of those mechanisms could be
exactly the things preventing a nation from attaining greater
prosperity.
