Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
November 26, 2013
Pope Francis released his first encyclical on Tuesday. In addition to restating opposition by the Catholic Church to abortion, the new Pope criticized free market capitalism and advocated wealth redistribution.
He said “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. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the 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. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.”
So-called “trickle down” is not an economic theory. It is a pejorative term used by socialists and others in favor of wealth distribution to describe laissez-faire capitalism. A product of the Enlightenment, laissez-faire capitalism was “conceived as the way to unleash human potential through the restoration of a natural system, a system unhindered by the restrictions of government,” writes Toufic Gaspard. For political economist Adam Smith and other classical economists, the concept was inextricably connected to natural rights.
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- Rampant capitalism is killing the poor, warns Pope (thetimes.co.uk)
- Pope Francis denounces ‘trickle-down’ economics (washingtonpost.com)
- Pope Francis: Free Market-Hater (economicpolicyjournal.com)
- Pope Francis rips capitalism and trickle-down economics to shreds in new policy statement (rawstory.com)
- Pope Francis: Capitalism is “a new tyranny” (salon.com)
- Runaway capitalism ‘a new tyranny’ (msnbc.com)
- Pope Attacks Capitalism (sparkingtheleft.com)
- Pope Francis Slams ‘Trickle Down’ Economics (abcnews.go.com)
- Pope Calls Out Trickle-Down (frothslosh.typepad.com)
