Is Capitalism Bad For You? – 8-Bit Philosophy

Food for thought. When popes including our last three speak against capitalism, its important to understand it is in its essence Calvinism. Capitalism and "Free" Markets are two different things.

TPE: The ascent of brand man

via The Provincial Emails 

'Schumpeter' on the life of Wally Olins, "a high priest of the religion of branding", at The Economist.

"G.K. Chesterton got it half right: when people stop believing in God they don’t believe in nothing. They believe in brands. Companies spend as much time thinking about their brands as their products. Countries and cities hire brand consultants.
[...]
"Mr Olins recognised two great truths about the modern capitalist economy. The first is that the most precious resource in a noisy, crowded market is people’s attention. The second is that consumers are not just looking for utility in the things they buy. They are also looking for meaning. 'In the absence of a spiritual mentor,' he once declared, with his signature nonchalance, 'the idea of what the brand stands for—Just Do It, or whatever it is—is a substitute.'"

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Paul Ryan welcomes Pope's welfare debate

Rep. Paul Ryan said Sunday he doesn't expect the Pope to agree with him about the role of government in addressing social mobility.

But he does welcome Pope Francis' contribution to the U.S. debate on wealth and poverty.

Ryan, a Catholic, has for several years written the House Republican budget proposals, which he says will ensure the long-term viability of the social safety net. He doesn't, however, expect the Pope to endorse his specific policies.

"He's a Pope. Popes don't endorse budgets," Ryan said on ABC's "This Week."

Ryan's split assessment of the Pope comes as political figures adapt to Pope Francis' spot on the political spectrum.

Many Democrats see Francis as aligned with them on social and economic issues, especially in his criticism of "trickle-down economics" and his characterization of an "impersonal economy."

President Obama, for one, said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper this week that he has "been really impressed so far" with the Pope's "regard for those who are less fortunate."

Ryan has discredited the pontiff's critique of capitalism by saying the Pope doesn't understand the concept. He stood by that on Sunday.

"I think they have crony capitalism in Argentina where you have real exploitation," Ryan said. "That is not the free market."But Ryan said he was "excited" that Francis was talking about social justice issues

continue at Ch3000

We should have Paul Ryan define terms here but capitalism by definition is the opposite of "free markets."  That's why countries like the United States enact laws to prevent monopolies.  Unregulated markets cannot be free any more that lawless societies can be just.  Capitalism in the West is a Protestant innovation.

I'm not taking a position on Ryan's budget, just saying that it's hard in passing to just say "capitalism good" or "capitalism bad."  In fact, I'm not sure how it could ever be considered moral to pass a deficit budget - that is, a budget which is spending the money of future peoples who have not even elected the officials in office. 

“A small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself” (Rerum novarum, n. 3). [the document also condemns communism and socialism]

“Catholic social doctrine is not a surrogate for capitalism.” (Blessed John Paul II)

Yet consider this!
"It is not lawful to take the things of others to give to the poor. It is a sin worthy of punishment, not an act deserving a reward, to give away what belongs to others."
- Saint Francis of Assisi, Admonitions To The Brethren

via Catholicism and Capitalism the definition of the word capitalism is so undefined, that JPII had to clarify when making statements on the subject:

Again, he asks whether "capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society?" John Paul's answer is:

The answer is obviously complex. If by capitalism is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a business economy, market economy, or simply free economy. But if by capitalism is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative.

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Henry Ford on the minimum wage

Good stuff from a friend

I'm in the midst of an email exchange with some people about minimum wage and justice. I brought up the issue of a 'living wage' as opposed to a minimum wage, which is discussed in this essay by Allan Carlson. It is a good essay, and I think many of the themes will resonate with you. Here is a glimpse of how even the old capitalists believed, at least to a certain extent, that justice must reign in an economy:

In the United States, Henry Ford startled observers in 1914 by doubling the wages paid to married workers, arguing that the worker "is not just an individual....He is a householder....The man does the work in the shop, but his wife does the work in the home. The shop must pay them both." The alternative, Ford emphasized, was "the hideous prospect of little children and their mothers being forced out to work."

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When a farm bill is not a farm bill

Americans for Prosperity

Shouldn't farming bills benefit farmers?

Here's my farm bill: Buy Local. 

Communism and Capitalism

Chesterton quote of the day: "You cannot combat Communism with certainty of its defeat if the people themselves do not recognise instinctively why Communism is wrong. You cannot prevent the spread of Socialism if its faults are not clearly apparent. You cannot replace Capitalism easily, if the majority of those around you do not see the principal reasons why Capitalism has failed."

The Distributist Review

Distributist Review: The faces of Capitalism

We are frequently told how, if government would simply get out of the way and stop over-regulating businesses, "the market" will automatically adjust itself in a way that is best for everyone. There was a time when the regulations on businesses were much less than now. History has documented what this prosperity looks like. DWC

Distributist Review.  And a point of clarification:

Mr. Purdef, You may have misunderstood my point. I am not making a statement about regulation. I am pointing out that those capitalists, particularly of the Austrian school, who claim that "real" Capitalism - that is, Capitalism unfettered ...by the government - would result in the greatest prosperity for the most people are wrong. History shows their claim to be untrue because, when it was essentially unregulated, the result was that working families were so poor that, despite the fact that it was often the case that both parents worked long hours, they couldn't afford to live unless they also sent their children out to work in these kinds of conditions. Capitalists of the time fought very hard against all attempts to bring and end to these conditions. You are correct, though, that this happened because Capitalists separated ethics and morality from economics and business. DWC

Again, the point is not about regulations, the point is that capitalists, especially of the Austrian School assert that allowing the "laws of the market" to work unfettered will result in the greatest prosperity for all. The truth is that their promise actually resulted in extreme poverty and virtual slavery for a large portion of the working class while the capitalists lived in extreme luxury.

The funny thing is that Wisconsin public sector unions try to make this work in complete reverse where union members are given lavish benefits that no one but themselves enjoy in society.

In particular is capitalism problematic when the Capitalist has no ethics or morality.  Of course when those politicians charged with ensuring those with the means of production act ethically have yet an even worse ethical outlook, we end up with things like public funding for corporations like Planned Parenthood.  Folks might say we are so much better off now without children in coal mines(at least in this country).... but today's poor children aren't sent to mines, they are sent to their death.  And if we had a picture of today's forty or so poor souls' tragic end, we'd turn away much sooner than looking at coal covered children.