The Immorality of Money Printing and Why It's Driving the World To Socialism

[Freddy]

People in this country would be much better off in a pure capitalistic economy

Which people? The ones on minimum wage?

There is almost a requirement for there to be an unequal distribution of wealth. Otherwise there would be no incentive to work harder or smarter. So I’ve no problem with it. And I’ve travelled around countries like India and Vietnam where there is obvious poverty. And I’ve felt some guilt in spending an amount on a decent meal and a few drinks that would keep a family going for a week. But there’s only so much to go around in their systems (albeit some extraordinarily rich Indians and Vietnamese).

But I’ve also travelled around the US. And the place is awash with cash. But the difference between the haves and the have nots is jarring. Yeah, a rising tide lifts everyone. But the ones in the super yachts need to keep an eye out while they’re sipping their sundowners for the ones in tattered lifejackets and the bloated bodies floating past.

 

[tafan2]

Oh, yes, we cannot trust the Fed to control the money supply, so instead let’s turn it over to third world countrirs’ mining capacity. How can this not make sense.

On a serious note, there is no doubt that QE has greatly increased wealth disparity. If you are going to drop money out of a helicopter, it stands to reason those under the copter will benefit. In this case banks and Wall Street.

 

[twf]

The American capitalist system is certainly not Catholic. The entire American experiment is at odds with traditional (medieval) Catholic values on many fronts. Distributionism has been proposed as an authentically Catholic alternative. No need to raise communism boogeymen.

 

[phil3]

Distributionism

Who gets to control the Distributionism ?

 

[Annie]

I don’t know about that. People who used to live in one-room huts made of sticks in Latin America are probably happy to have two-room cinderblock houses, and people in the US who used to live in 2-room houses with outhouses are (they tell me) happy that they now live in 3-bedroom houses with indoor plumbing.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela… as in the Soviet nations, North Korea, etc., there is not much of a wealth gap: no one can get toilet paper, groceries, medical care etc.

 

[twf]

Local governments. As local as possible. That’s my understanding. I’m not an expert on it. It is rooted in the Church’s social doctrine.

 

[Freddy]

I don’t know about that. People who used to live in one-room huts made of sticks in Latin America are probably happy to have two-room cinderblock houses, and people in the US who used to live in 2-room houses with outhouses are (they tell me) happy that they now live in 3-bedroom houses with indoor plumbing.

You might recall the financial meltdown that we all suffered because people in the US couldn’t afford to keep up the payments to buy the houses with some indoor plumbing and got foreclosed. They went broke and lost their homes. But who actually made money out of the debacle?

I know people even down here that lost their jobs as a DIRECT result of people in the US owning obscene amounts of money yet still wanting a lot more.

 

[ProVobis]

People in this country would be much better off in a pure capitalistic economy

Not necessarily. In a free economy there are winners and losers. But the government should not decide these things.

 

[ralfyman]

From ““‘Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones’. Considerations for an ethical discernment regarding some aspects of the present economic-financial system” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, 17.05.2018”:

It is obvious that the uncertainty surrounding these products, such as the steady decline of the transparency of that which is assured, still not appearing in the original operation, makes them continuously less acceptable from the perspective of ethics respectful of the truth and the common good, because it transforms them into a ticking time bomb ready sooner or later to explode, poisoning the health of the markets. It is noted that there is an ethical void which becomes more serious as these products are negotiated on the so-called markets with less regulation (over the counter) and are exposed more to the markets regulated by chance, if not by fraud, and thus take away vital life-lines and investments to the real economy.

 

[Theo520]

Local governments. As local as possible. That’s my understanding. I’m not an expert on it. It is rooted in the Church’s social doctrine.

No, Distributionism inherently requires top down control, not local decision making.

 

[boldlygo]

If you’re pulling down around seven bucks an hour then you’re never going to get to the point where you CAN afford everything you need.

Your knack of the obvious is unparalleled.
So you get a second job. Or you go to school. Or you learn a trade through an apprenticeship. The venture capitalist wasn’t born with the knowledge, experience, and credentials to succeed in his line of work.

 

[Rau]

The venture capitalist wasn’t born with the knowledge, experience, and credentials to succeed in his line of work.

Quite right. But the circumstances into which we are born can often play a large part in our economic successes and opportunities.

 

[Annie]

You might recall the financial meltdown that we all suffered because people in the US couldn’t afford to keep up the payments to buy the houses with some indoor plumbing and got foreclosed.

Yes, I remember programs with the purpose of increasing homeownership among the poor with the government buying the mortgages, etc. I remember ads for 2nd and 3rd mortgages on houses based on the expected future rise in value. And a lot of businesses lost a lot of money in the collapse as well, Bear Sterns, Lehman Bros.,…

Again, another program to help the poor which was so badly structured that the poor didn’t really get anywhere.

OTOH, in fifty years we went from nearly 1/2 of homes in the US lacking indoor plumbing to less than 1% in 1990.

 

[Annie]

I know people even down here that lost their jobs as a DIRECT result of people in the US owning obscene amounts of money yet still wanting a lot more.

Not sure where “down here” is, much less what you are referring to.

 

[Freddy]

Freddy:

If you’re pulling down around seven bucks an hour then you’re never going to get to the point where you CAN afford everything you need.

Your knack of the obvious is unparalleled.
So you get a second job. Or you go to school. Or you learn a trade through an apprenticeship. The venture capitalist wasn’t born with the knowledge, experience, and credentials to succeed in his line of work.

My apologies. I didn’t know it was that easy…

 

[Freddy]

OTOH, in fifty years we went from nearly 1/2 of homes in the US lacking indoor plumbing to less than 1% in 1990.

We actually didn’t have an indoor toilet in the house where I was brought up until I was fourteen.

 

[Freddy]

Freddy:

I know people even down here that lost their jobs as a DIRECT result of people in the US owning obscene amounts of money yet still wanting a lot more.

Not sure where “down here” is, much less what you are referring to.

Sorry Annie. Down here as in down under as in Australia. And the GFC ended up costing the jobs of at least two people I know. The government down here had to spend BIG money just to keep country afloat. Because of that increased spending we went into the red for a while. But both my son and myself kept our respective jobs just on tbe basis of the work (mostly on schools) that the government was financing.

 

[Annie]

We actually didn’t have an indoor toilet in the house where I was brought up until I was fourteen.

And…?

10

 

[twf]

That’s not what the Catholic theologians and philosophers who developed distributionism taught.

 

[boldlygo]

Your knack of the obvious is unparalleled.
So you get a second job. Or you go to school. Or you learn a trade through an apprenticeship. The venture capitalist wasn’t born with the knowledge, experience, and credentials to succeed in his line of work.

I worked two jobs for twenty years. I never said it was easy - sometimes it wasn’t, but we always had all the necessities, and enough to share with those in need.