Scroll down for this very good analysis from a Deerfield man: (boldface, bracketed comments added)
Pope and economics
The pope’s heart is in the right place, but he demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of free markets and capitalism in his recent economic speech. It is only when China abandoned [reduced?
moderated?] paternalistic government that had kept a billion souls locked in poverty and turned to free-market capitalism that it went from Third World status to a superpower.. . . more people were lifted from poverty to middle class than the total population of the United States.
Better that capitalism resulted in a few superrich and 500 million lifted out of poverty, than no superrich and 500 million who never left poverty. [Room for papal allusion to obsession with idle rich in
public discourse, including churchly]The results of free-market capitalism in breaking the chains of poverty are not limited to China; rather, they are evident in every Asian country that adopted it.
John F. Kennedy understood that lowering taxes results in wealth creation for the greatest number of citizens. Conversely, Barack Obama’s imposition of increased taxes and regulation has resulted in the weakest economic recovery on record.
The facts are clear: Free markets and capitalism are the road to prosperity.
Rob Klein, Deerfield
Klein calls it “an economic speech,” which apologists deny. I’d say that the pope’s meaning well extends to the “apostolic exhortation” label he gave it. If he did not know the apostolic part would get drowned out by the economic part, he needs a media advisor in a hurry.