And for a GERMAN POPE to go about "deploring rampant capitalism" - well, this sure is a fallback to Pope Paul the Great Socialist - against whom Peter Bauer had to pen a thorough critique - quoting his Papal Bulls - a critique in which Bauer called Pope Paul's pronouncements not only "ignorant" - but also "corrupt." This particular essay by Bauer has been republished in his last book, a collection of truly wonderful essays with a TITLE that SAYS IT ALL:
From SUBSISTENCE to EXCHANGE
What is "subsistence" - but gandhian-socialism - combined with protectionism - swadeshi?
And what is FREE EXCHANGE? - but the URBAN division of labour, with specialisation and the fragmentation of knowledge - extending ever-outwards into the INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR - and thus - to UNIVERSAL PEACE - and UNIVERSAL OPULENCE - under FREE CAPITALISM.
The following is from the BBC report:
He [the Pope] deplored "hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor".
Those "hotbeds" also grew out of "the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism", as well as "various forms of terrorism and crime", he said.
IGNORANT & CORRUPT:
These are the precise words Bauer used for Pope Paul's Bulls - and so, without actually employing these expressions myself, all I can say is that this very German Pope is a very perfect example of both:
for one - there is the Historical Example of East Germany
and second - throughout HISTORY money & banking have been UNREGULATED - and what is now a worldwide fiat paper money system controlled and regulated by a CARTEL OF COMMUNISTS engaged in SERIOUS FRAUD - a system that includes The Vatican Bank! - it is this that is causing the "rich to grow richer and the poor to go poorer" - by subsidising Big Borrowers while penalising and eroding the capital value of the Vast Majority - who are all Small Savers.
The History of Ancient ROME - in particular, of its DECLINE & FALL - this, aeons before the inventions of security paper and security printing - is a SORDID TALE of what ought to be termed COUNTERFEITING - of the coinage - by Roman Emperors themselves - as this brief extract from Ludwig von Mises' Human Action: A Treatise on Economics relates, with the following conclusion - a conclusion that anyone desirous of NOT REPEATING the ERRORS of the past must keep in mind:
The marvelous civilization of antiquity perished because it did not adjust its moral code and its legal system to the requirements of the market economy. A social order is doomed if the actions which its normal functioning requires are rejected by the standards of morality, are declared illegal by the laws of the country, and are prosecuted as criminal by the courts and the police.
The Roman Empire crumbled to dust because it lacked the spirit of liberalism and free enterprise. The policy of interventionism and its political corollary, the Führer principle, decomposed the mighty empire as they will by necessity always disintegrate and destroy any social entity.
This Mises Institute "wiki" on "Money & Banking in Ancient Rome" tells the FULLY HORROR STORY - in brief; and as to how these CORRUPT PRACTICES paved the path to DECIVILISATION, there is this article from Jesus Huerta de Soto.
Let us now proceed to the age of PAPER MONEY - which began as nothing more than a "Promissory Note" - as a "money-substitute" - as the Olde "Promise to Pay the Bearer" on our FIAT PAPERS of today continues to remind us - which, when they first made their appearance, and then slowly "gained currency" - were issued by HONEST & COMPETING PRIVATE GOLDSMITH-BANKERS.
Thus:
Just as Averroes' challenge to the Pope of his times led to the "Baptism of Aristotle" - and to Thomas Aquinas - this is the time for this Pope to carefully study this Islamic Judgment on Paper Money.
There is JUSTICE!
And then - there is this "false sense of injustice" exhibited by all SOCIALISTS who go about crying over the rich-poor INEQUALITY - their Ultimate Mission being to WIPE OUT LIBERTY!
This is precisely why this German Pope calls for "regulated financial capitalism" - while opposing LIBERTY.
He thereby upholds INTERVENTIONISM, he also upholds LEGISLATIONISM - and ends up upholding INJUSTICE!
There is NOTHING UNJUST about conditions of Liberty and Free Competition in which NO ECONOMIC EQUALITY can ever be brought about - expect by STATE POWERS, as with that EVIL NEHRU and his "socialistic pattern of society."
FREE PEOPLE ARE NEVER EQUAL
and
EQUAL PEOPLE ARE NEVER FREE
I explained the difference between COMPETITION in the URBAN marketplace - best called "catallactic competition" - and the Darwinian "survival-of-the-fittest" Law of the Jungle as follows in this recent post:
Catallactic Competition is NOT the Darwinian “survival of the fittest” – on the contrary, it is beneficial-to-all, especially as BUYERS and CONSUMERS – but even for all producers, all that catallactic competition does is best called “grading” – not according to “merit” but according to “consumer choice,” which is why professional sportspersons earn many, many times more than professors! – but also, just as the “best” bottle of wine sells alongside the “worst” plonk, just as the “star” of the stage or the screen performs without destroying either the life or the prospects of crooners in a small, local bars - everyone survives! - not just the "fittest" - because catallactic competition is not a "game" - this very serious "business of life" is NOT a "winner-take-all" kind of GAME at all.
Indeed, these “inequalities” are equally BENEFICIAL – and anyone who “starts small” – as everyone must – with good, hard work, with dedication and perseverance, and with a “little-bit-of-luck” sometimes – can climb to the “dizzying heights” of fame and fortune. Samuel Smiles’ Self-Help tells of hundreds such – in the old days – but even in modern times, whether we look at The Beatles or any of the new billionaires of high-tech – it reveals but the same story that Samuel Smiles told – a subject upon which Peter, Lord Bauer has also written most tellingly, in an essay on Britain today, titled “Class On The Brain.” On himself, in his maiden speech in the House of Lords, he made the proud claim of having risen “from peasant to peer in one generation” – the word “bauer” means “peasant” in many continental languages.
Further, since we produce in order to exchange our surplus for "media of exchange" - or MONEY - with which to BUY all our needs as CONSUMERS - it follows that - as Bastiat put it most forcefully:
COMPETITION IS LIBERTY
and
The Absence of Competition is Tyranny!
We need the Freedom to Choose among various Media of Exchange on offer in a Free, Unregulated, and Unhampered MARKET - as opposed to this UGLY STATE MONOPOLY over "legal tender funny money"!
Collapse and Ruination have resulted!
Perhaps - as was TRUE in the case of Martin Luther's Open Rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church of his time - The Authorities are perceived to be Unjust & Corrupt TYRANTS?
Thus - just as Luther's rebellion led to not only Protestantism - but also to the Catholic Church's very own "Reformation" - mankind needs a similar STIMULUS of Open Rebellion - to which a Reformation of Institutions would be the most appropriate RESPONSE.
Similarly, when the Pope bemoans "various forms of terrorism and crime" - he MUST first THINK:
Why are these occurring TODAY? - unlike ages past.
This excellent essay by Thomas J DiLorenzo reveals the True Story of the American WILD WEST - that there was LESS VIOLENCE then than there is TODAY - with ORGANISED CRIME - something UNKNOWN in the old American Frontier.
What caused the US MAFIA? - but Legislationism - and the Prohibition of Alcohol - Al Capone and Chicago.
What is the Root Cause of "gangsta' rap"?
What is FUNDING NARCO-TERRORISM today? - the very same answer - save to assert that surely NARCO-TOURISM would bring about World Peace - and World Bliss as well.
LIBERTY!
UNREGULATED FINANCIAL CAPITALISM!
UNREGULATED PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!
