Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wealth, inequality, and human dignity
Zenit has available, here, excerpts from the Pope's remarks on "the World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty." A bit:
The disparity between rich and poor has become more evident and more disturbing, even within the most economically advanced nations.
"This worrying situation appeals to the conscience of mankind because the conditions being suffered by such a large number of people are such as to offend the dignity of human beings and, as a consequence, to compromise the authentic and harmonious progress of the world community.
"I encourage, then, an increase in efforts to eliminate the causes of poverty and the tragic consequences deriving from it."
So . . . which "efforts" should be "increase[d]"? (I would think, for example, that steps by wealthy and politically stable countries to incentivize developing and poor countries to crack down on corruption, and provide meaningful protection for property and other legal rights, so as to encourage more investment, are essential). And, which have shown themselves to be ineffective? (I would think, for example, that there's no future in celebrating dictator-demagogues who promise massive confiscation and redistribution.) How do we put this into practice, as we should?
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2007/10/wealth-inequali.html