Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Marc Theissen: A bishop’s unjust attack on Paul Ryan


Op/Ed at the WaPo that is HOPELESSLY out of the MMT paradigm but provides a good review of where we are on fiscal.  Identifies where the GOP leadership, some in US Catholic Church leadership, the President, even The Pope are relative to the fiscal issue.

Readers may find it revealing, and a point of reference.  Theissen reports that Ryan, who is taking some heat from Catholic theologians, claims his proposal increases spending by 3% annual vice the Presidents proposal for a 4.5% increase.

And it looks like Ryan is trying to trump the Bishops with The Pope, who apparently thinks "we are living at the expense of future generations" and " In this respect it is plain that we are living in untruth.” (Wow!)
Benedict declared that “huge debts are … treated as something that we are simply entitled to,” and that to confront this problem “a global examination of conscience is indispensable.”
Looks like stupidity goes up not only to the highest levels of government, but the highest levels of church authority as well.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Looks like stupidity goes up not only to the highest levels of government, but the highest levels of church authority as well."

At some point, one needs to stop giving those who we proclaim are "stupid" the benefit of doubt and instead realize there is an agenda, underwritten by the RCC, to permanently reduce the role of government and thereby democracy in the Western world. One need only look at Europe, where government has been privatized, to see where this will lead.

Matt Franko said...

Anon,

With respect, I am claiming just the opposite.

ie "At some point, one needs to stop claiming this is some big "conspiracy" among humans and realize that these elites are being made morons..."

For instance Peterson is not in the RCC... Pres Obama is not, Simpson/Bowles, etc...

The common denominator is they are all among the global elite.

Resp,

Tom Hickey said...

Is it a coincidence that Benedict is German?

Matt Franko said...

No Tom for instance Peterson is not German he is Greek (real name Petros Petropopolis or something like that).

And... Ryan is also pulling from JP2: "Ryan cited Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus, in which the late pope noted that “By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.”

So this is very pervasive, it is not geographical imo or genetic, it looks to me it is based on for lack of a better word "elitism" or something like that... or the "high" among humanity... they are being made morons in this.

Resp,

Tom Hickey said...

This is the hangover of a violent reaction to "atheistic communism." Conservatives see this everywhere.

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

Not that I am an expert in Marxism by any stretch, but I have been looking into it a bit over the last few months... to me, it is starting to look that in many ways:

Marxism = (The economic portions of the Mosaic Law) - (Any recognition of God)

At least from my vantage point, like you say I dont think many (if any) "conservatives" are able to see any parallels there and hence reflect on this...

Resp,

Tom Hickey said...

Normative religions are what grow out of a spiritual teaching when it is taken over by vested interests and theologians operating on the basis of reason rather than spiritual knowledge. This not only conceals the spiritual teaching but often perverts it. Then it becomes the opiate of the people which the elite uses to control them and extract wealth from them. It's despicable.

Marx got that. He understood the core at least to some degree, and it is reflected in his work, unlike mainstream economics, which is reductionist.

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

This is interesting from JP2:

"By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a ...."

Is not my bold type indicating a contradiction?

iow JP2 is saying in the first part that there is an "intervention" but then in the second part he is saying that "society is being deprived of it's responsibility"

Is not society by "intervening" (which he admits) in a way fulfilling it's "responsibility" (or at least trying to)?

Can he not discern the contradiction here? At least I for myself see some contradiction here....

Resp,

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

This thing is building this week looks like.... your alma mater is ground zero, a lot of back and forth:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/paul-ryan-challenged-by-georgetown-faculty_n_1449437.html

Ayn Rand shows up. Interesting.

Resp,

Matt Franko said...

Fox News now reporting (caution big photo of Ryan at top of linked page ;)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/25/gop-ryan-set-for-georgetown-speech-says-budget-addresses-poor-needs/

Resp,

beowulf said...

"And it looks like Ryan is trying to trump the Bishops with The Pope".

The balls on this guy, debating Catholic theology with a group of Catholic bishops.

Jesus taught that on the Day of Judgement God will ask what each of us did to help the poor and needy: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."... Through our words, prayers and deeds we must show solidarity with, and compassion for, the poor. When instituting public policy we must always keep the "preferential option for the poor" at the forefront of our minds. The moral test of any society is "how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor."

Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_social_teaching#Preferential_Option_for_the_poor_and_vulnerable

Matt Franko said...

Beo,

I'd have to think Ryan has the disadvantage....

As Ryan is claiming an increase in "social spending" of 3%, I bet that would be the gross number, not per capita I'd suspect.... as many more are in need these days as compared to 2008.

The key thing to look at is probably per capita spending that is probably down.

Of course we have to remember that both sides in this are hopelessly out of paradigm.

This is tough to watch... both sides just cannot understand state currency systems. They are both lost and resorting to argumentation over doctrine. Sad.

Resp,