An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
"One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in the our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society.....We have created new idols..."
this would be true under the metals but obviously not under state currency.... lose the metonym "money" and maybe you will start to understand this....
Why bring up the "GOLDEN calf" in an era when we are using state currency? That was another time and another cohort of people....
nobody today is offering divine service to "money" LOL! Nobody even knows what "money" is for crying out loud...
I don't that this is a fair criticism, Matt. The reality is that neoliberal capitalism prioritizes money and machines over people and the environment, and this reversal of priorities is also being reflected in personal preferences and choices.
It doesn't make much difference whether one prioritizes metals, paper or cowrie shells if one prioritizes any of them over people.
The Idols of the Tribe have their origin in the production of false concepts due to human nature, because the structure of human understanding is like a crooked mirror, which causes distorted reflections (of things in the external world).
2 Idols of the Cave
The Idols of the Cave consist of conceptions or doctrines which are dear to the individual who cherishes them, without possessing any evidence of their truth. These idols are due to the preconditioned system of every individual, comprising education, custom, or accidental or contingent experiences.
3 Idols of the Market Place
These idols are based on false conceptions which are derived from public human communication. They enter our minds quietly by a combination of words and names, so that it comes to pass that not only does reason govern words, but words react on our understanding.
4 Idols of the Theatre
According to the insight that the world is a stage, the Idols of the Theatre are prejudices stemming from received or traditional philosophical systems. These systems resemble plays in so far as they render fictional worlds, which were never exposed to an experimental check or to a test by experience. The idols of the theatre thus have their origin in dogmatic philosophy or in wrong laws of demonstration.
Neoliberalism is screwed up as a social and political philosophy based on economic liberalism, which equally screwed up as an economic theory. When neoliberalism is institutionalized socially, politically, and economically, the result is a screwed up culture and screwed up individuals. It's psychopathological.
When you walked into the Temple of Zeus and looked up at the statue you would 'perceive whole' Zeus (while God has in truth divided Himself: "all is out of God...") ... then you would offer this thing that you are 'perceiving whole' a divine service... make offerings, pray, whatever...
This is 'idolatry'.... Paul wrote: "flee from idolatry" and we have...
NO ONE IS DOING THIS TYPE OF THING TODAY..... NO ONE...
We have a bunch of technically incompetent morons who have usurped our majesterial positions of authority and are all caught up in metonymy ('a bewitchment of our language") and have no f-ing idea what 'money' is but all they know is that to these morons they are out of it.. so the Pope is right there with them and has to blame some fictitious 'idolatry' nonsense... bring in the 'golden calf' from God's dealings with Israel, he's lost...
Paul also wrote: "the contemptible in the ecclesia, these you are seating (in your Tribunals)? To abash you am I saying this."
what do they think they need "to live"? what is it that they are struggling for??
They need "money".... to purchase provisions, shelter, healthcare, etc...
We have morons in majesterial positions, whose job it is (supposed to be) to see to it that adequate balances of "money" are extant in our nations in order for ALL OF US to be provisioned... while these morons are thinking "we're out of money!"
So people are accordingly vexed about the lack of "money" that they can obtain in order to provision themselves and their households...
They probably worry about it all the time...
So now here comes the Pope:
"The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money..."
So now the Pope is accusing these people of being in a cult!
So you have probably many Catholics out there in dire financial circumstances thinking often about "money" and this guy piles on and accuses them of being in a cult while they are at it! Because they dare worry about "money"????
When all they are worried about is obtaining "money" they can use in provisioning themselves and their households....
I guess the Pope figures they can always be coerced into the religious soup kitchens...
Matt, the meaning of terms changes. The meaning of idolatry is completely clear today. Its ancient meaning of worship of a physical representation of a deity has been expanded by analogy to include excessive attachment, especially when it becomes obsessive-compulsive or pathological.
In fact, idolatry is often presented positively in terms of adulation of celebrities. Compare "American Idol," for instance. Many people lust after becoming idols themselves and the benefits that accrue from popular adulation.
The pope's meaning is abundantly clear. The golden calf analogy is often used in this context, for example.
There's a lot more of this in capitalistic societies than most people realize, just as fish don't notice water since they are always immersed in it. But ignorance is no excuse before the law, "As you sow, so shall you reap." Galatians 6:7, also 2 Corinthians 9:6, Luke 6:38.
The pope's address relates directly to sayings attributed to Jesus.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. — Matthew 6:19-21, 24 NRSV
The pope's intent is clear. He is not demonizing money or even saying that riches are necessarily bad. He is talking about prioritizing values appropriately iaw criteria such as deontological ethics (moral code), virtue ethics (character) and consequential ethics (greatest good).
What he is sating is that freedom involves responsibility, and economic liberalism has tended to overemphasize freedom and underemphasize responsibility, or to interpret freedom too broadly and responsibility too narrowly. Many libertarians of the left agree. Even many Libertarians would agree that there is a difference between liberty and license. The issues revolve around demarcating the limits and drawing boundaries.
BTW, Catholic doctrine is largely based on the theology of Aquinas, which holds that Christian values are not only revealed through scripture but can also be show through argument to be rational as well. So this has a humanistic foundation also. No Catholic theologian of whom I am aware holds that one needs to be religious or of a particular religious persuasion to discern and do the right thing.
"money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves"
That's the attitude that the pope is opposing. We accept the power of money over ourselves because we have acquiesced in rationing by money and social asymmetries that lead to extreme distributional asymmetries to the point of being irrational.
What he is saying is that there are real resources available to meet needs and they are not being allocated efficiently and effectively owing to distributive policies that are misdirected and personal and class hoarding, both of money and stuff.
We know that if the everyone consumed all income, then the income/expenditure model would direct resources iaw preferences and purchasing power based on contribution. But given propensity to save, power structure, technology, endowments, and other asymmetries, this doesn't happen. Some of this asymmetry may be natural and some also needed for incentives, but most of it is doesn't fall in either category. The problem is with social pathology especially when it is concretized institutionally.
I take that the pope is saying that we as a civilization are under the spell of an illusion created by idol-worship (an idol is an illusion). I think that the pope is also well aware that there are many idols being worshipped other than money, too. In addition to fortune there's also fame, power, and pleasure. But they all fall under the overarching idol of narrow self-interest.
Francis knows that there are enough real resources available and that the problem is asymmetrical distribution based on rationing resources by money.
So he is definitely on the rationing side and against the domination by wage-price based on the illusions that modern capitalism creates as TINA, and he specifically called out trickle down as bad theory used to impose a grossly inequitable and socially destructive distribution system.
I think it is fine for him to criticize the existing system for being dysfunctional, but I don't think it is his place to propose alternatives.
At the very least, the wealthy could stop hoarding so much, which he encourages and as we know hoarding at the top means that others have to borrow to support that saving desire. This leads to imbalances in the domestic private sector if the private sector makes up the difference, or reliance on mercantilism in the external sector, which cannot work internationally without imbalances arising, or else government has to subsidize the hoarding of the wealthy with its fiscal balance.
Should the pope explain that or point out that governments that are currency sovereigns have the ability to subsidize the hoarding of the wealthy with deficits in order to run full employment. I don't think that he should do that from his bully pulpit, but his economic advisors could do it if they understood it.
However, my sense is that the pope has concluded that the existing neoliberal system is essentially flawed and need an overhaul. I think too that TPTB and their flaks realize this and some are pushing back (Rush Limbaugh) while others are trying to figure out an end run to avoid it (Paul Ryan).
The pope is playing chess games with many opponents simultaneously and he seems to be doing pretty well at the outset. He's bitten off a big chunk right out of the gate, which is understandable since he is not a young man and knows he has a limited window of opportunity.
He is miles ahead of his recent predecessors, so I am willing to cut him some space and see what develops.
9 comments:
"One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in the our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society.....We have created new idols..."
this would be true under the metals but obviously not under state currency.... lose the metonym "money" and maybe you will start to understand this....
Why bring up the "GOLDEN calf" in an era when we are using state currency? That was another time and another cohort of people....
nobody today is offering divine service to "money" LOL! Nobody even knows what "money" is for crying out loud...
I don't that this is a fair criticism, Matt. The reality is that neoliberal capitalism prioritizes money and machines over people and the environment, and this reversal of priorities is also being reflected in personal preferences and choices.
It doesn't make much difference whether one prioritizes metals, paper or cowrie shells if one prioritizes any of them over people.
It is creating an idol and worshipping it.
Francis Bacon enumerated four idols and they remain the same today as the foundation of many mistakes and fallacies.
1 Idols of the Tribe
The Idols of the Tribe have their origin in the production of false concepts due to human nature, because the structure of human understanding is like a crooked mirror, which causes distorted reflections (of things in the external world).
2 Idols of the Cave
The Idols of the Cave consist of conceptions or doctrines which are dear to the individual who cherishes them, without possessing any evidence of their truth. These idols are due to the preconditioned system of every individual, comprising education, custom, or accidental or contingent experiences.
3 Idols of the Market Place
These idols are based on false conceptions which are derived from public human communication. They enter our minds quietly by a combination of words and names, so that it comes to pass that not only does reason govern words, but words react on our understanding.
4 Idols of the Theatre
According to the insight that the world is a stage, the Idols of the Theatre are prejudices stemming from received or traditional philosophical systems. These systems resemble plays in so far as they render fictional worlds, which were never exposed to an experimental check or to a test by experience. The idols of the theatre thus have their origin in dogmatic philosophy or in wrong laws of demonstration.
Neoliberalism is screwed up as a social and political philosophy based on economic liberalism, which equally screwed up as an economic theory. When neoliberalism is institutionalized socially, politically, and economically, the result is a screwed up culture and screwed up individuals. It's psychopathological.
Tom here is the Pope:
"money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves"
Here is Aristotle:
"We call it nomisma, because it is always in our power to control it."
See any difference?????
Tom 'idolatry' is 'eidOlolatreias'...
It is translated 'perceive-whole-divine-service'
When you walked into the Temple of Zeus and looked up at the statue you would 'perceive whole' Zeus (while God has in truth divided Himself: "all is out of God...") ... then you would offer this thing that you are 'perceiving whole' a divine service... make offerings, pray, whatever...
This is 'idolatry'.... Paul wrote: "flee from idolatry" and we have...
NO ONE IS DOING THIS TYPE OF THING TODAY..... NO ONE...
We have a bunch of technically incompetent morons who have usurped our majesterial positions of authority and are all caught up in metonymy ('a bewitchment of our language") and have no f-ing idea what 'money' is but all they know is that to these morons they are out of it.. so the Pope is right there with them and has to blame some fictitious 'idolatry' nonsense... bring in the 'golden calf' from God's dealings with Israel, he's lost...
Paul also wrote: "the contemptible in the ecclesia, these you are seating (in your Tribunals)? To abash you am I saying this."
We need to put BETTER... PEOPLE... IN... THERE...
rsp,
Ok the Pope says:
"People have to struggle to live"
what do they think they need "to live"? what is it that they are struggling for??
They need "money".... to purchase provisions, shelter, healthcare, etc...
We have morons in majesterial positions, whose job it is (supposed to be) to see to it that adequate balances of "money" are extant in our nations in order for ALL OF US to be provisioned... while these morons are thinking "we're out of money!"
So people are accordingly vexed about the lack of "money" that they can obtain in order to provision themselves and their households...
They probably worry about it all the time...
So now here comes the Pope:
"The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money..."
So now the Pope is accusing these people of being in a cult!
So you have probably many Catholics out there in dire financial circumstances thinking often about "money" and this guy piles on and accuses them of being in a cult while they are at it! Because they dare worry about "money"????
When all they are worried about is obtaining "money" they can use in provisioning themselves and their households....
I guess the Pope figures they can always be coerced into the religious soup kitchens...
Matt, the meaning of terms changes. The meaning of idolatry is completely clear today. Its ancient meaning of worship of a physical representation of a deity has been expanded by analogy to include excessive attachment, especially when it becomes obsessive-compulsive or pathological.
In fact, idolatry is often presented positively in terms of adulation of celebrities. Compare "American Idol," for instance. Many people lust after becoming idols themselves and the benefits that accrue from popular adulation.
The pope's meaning is abundantly clear. The golden calf analogy is often used in this context, for example.
There's a lot more of this in capitalistic societies than most people realize, just as fish don't notice water since they are always immersed in it. But ignorance is no excuse before the law, "As you sow, so shall you reap." Galatians 6:7, also 2 Corinthians 9:6, Luke 6:38.
The pope's address relates directly to sayings attributed to Jesus.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
— Matthew 6:19-21, 24 NRSV
The Golden Rule, which is found in all wisdom traditions, is also operative.
The pope's intent is clear. He is not demonizing money or even saying that riches are necessarily bad. He is talking about prioritizing values appropriately iaw criteria such as deontological ethics (moral code), virtue ethics (character) and consequential ethics (greatest good).
What he is sating is that freedom involves responsibility, and economic liberalism has tended to overemphasize freedom and underemphasize responsibility, or to interpret freedom too broadly and responsibility too narrowly. Many libertarians of the left agree. Even many Libertarians would agree that there is a difference between liberty and license. The issues revolve around demarcating the limits and drawing boundaries.
BTW, Catholic doctrine is largely based on the theology of Aquinas, which holds that Christian values are not only revealed through scripture but can also be show through argument to be rational as well. So this has a humanistic foundation also. No Catholic theologian of whom I am aware holds that one needs to be religious or of a particular religious persuasion to discern and do the right thing.
"money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves"
That's the attitude that the pope is opposing. We accept the power of money over ourselves because we have acquiesced in rationing by money and social asymmetries that lead to extreme distributional asymmetries to the point of being irrational.
What he is saying is that there are real resources available to meet needs and they are not being allocated efficiently and effectively owing to distributive policies that are misdirected and personal and class hoarding, both of money and stuff.
We know that if the everyone consumed all income, then the income/expenditure model would direct resources iaw preferences and purchasing power based on contribution. But given propensity to save, power structure, technology, endowments, and other asymmetries, this doesn't happen. Some of this asymmetry may be natural and some also needed for incentives, but most of it is doesn't fall in either category. The problem is with social pathology especially when it is concretized institutionally.
Matt Franko:
"Tom here is the Pope:
"money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves"
"Here is Aristotle:
"We call it nomisma, because it is always in our power to control it."
See any difference?????"
Yeah. We're not as smart as Aristotle.
I take that the pope is saying that we as a civilization are under the spell of an illusion created by idol-worship (an idol is an illusion). I think that the pope is also well aware that there are many idols being worshipped other than money, too. In addition to fortune there's also fame, power, and pleasure. But they all fall under the overarching idol of narrow self-interest.
Francis knows that there are enough real resources available and that the problem is asymmetrical distribution based on rationing resources by money.
So he is definitely on the rationing side and against the domination by wage-price based on the illusions that modern capitalism creates as TINA, and he specifically called out trickle down as bad theory used to impose a grossly inequitable and socially destructive distribution system.
I think it is fine for him to criticize the existing system for being dysfunctional, but I don't think it is his place to propose alternatives.
At the very least, the wealthy could stop hoarding so much, which he encourages and as we know hoarding at the top means that others have to borrow to support that saving desire. This leads to imbalances in the domestic private sector if the private sector makes up the difference, or reliance on mercantilism in the external sector, which cannot work internationally without imbalances arising, or else government has to subsidize the hoarding of the wealthy with its fiscal balance.
Should the pope explain that or point out that governments that are currency sovereigns have the ability to subsidize the hoarding of the wealthy with deficits in order to run full employment. I don't think that he should do that from his bully pulpit, but his economic advisors could do it if they understood it.
However, my sense is that the pope has concluded that the existing neoliberal system is essentially flawed and need an overhaul. I think too that TPTB and their flaks realize this and some are pushing back (Rush Limbaugh) while others are trying to figure out an end run to avoid it (Paul Ryan).
The pope is playing chess games with many opponents simultaneously and he seems to be doing pretty well at the outset. He's bitten off a big chunk right out of the gate, which is understandable since he is not a young man and knows he has a limited window of opportunity.
He is miles ahead of his recent predecessors, so I am willing to cut him some space and see what develops.
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