Economic inequality : Evangelii Primer.

 The Pope in a church document attacks
Capitalism , and Greed.

Pope Francis I may have spoken it well. Pope Francis now faces an onslaught of attacks calling him a "Marxist" just for pointing to the world the vary answers to social justice which now is a rotten little word.The document of the Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel )  He said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Peace, marked around the world on January 1, he also called for sharing of wealth and for nations to shrink the gap between rich and poor, more of whom are getting only "crumbs." Using unusually blunt language, he sharply criticized the market economy. "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality," wrote the pontiff in the 224-page document known as the apostolic exhortation. "Such an economy kills," wrote Pope Francis, denouncing the current economic system as "unjust at its roots" and one "which defend(s) the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation." Such a system, he warned, is creating a "new tyranny," which "unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules." The Pope is better in addressing the issue of poverty , on the other hand Pres. Obama is having  a hard sell with the Democratic party as it seems Economic populism is the hardy perennial recommendation of liberal pollsters and labor-union political directors. It keeps coming back, even though election results have never quite borne it out. Deeply invested in the individualistic“American dream,” and deeply divided by race, ethnicity and religion, Americans have proven less susceptible to class-based economic appeals than voters in other nations. Raising the minimum wage, for example, is a populistic theme that 76 percent of Americans support, including a solid majority of Republicans, a November Gallup poll found. There are are a lot of "cons" about raising the minimum wage , I first have to say when I was in High School I was flipping burgers making a late night Friday Shift and working Saturdays closing . I was making 3.35 $ an  hour to compare with a 8 to 10 dollars an hour these days ,  it was a  "entry-level" job. There have been protests nation wide at McDonald's on Washington Street East in favor of raising the minimum wage for fast food workers. Punishing "fast food" companies to push the wages up can only go so far . I honor the idea of making the minimum wage 10 $ an hour  , but dragging that wage any higher is economic disaster.  Fast Food wasn't suppose to be a career choice, it is suppose to be a place to gain work experience, and if you applied yourself you could move up to manager then maybe its a career right there , but the Fast food industry is hell . It's vary exploitative labor , you work at will and the shift managers can cut your hours . ( Non -Union )  at any time . I believe that there should be some kind of 'watch dog' in regards to fast food industry , but if  you take that into account most low wage jobs fall under what Marxist call " Exploitation of the masses " . Karl Marx was for wage equality , he fought against *** "child labor" which during the 1880's was a society evil  during the eve of the Industrial revolution . Poverty was a reactionary evil that consumed nations , and to this day has not been totally eradicated. Francis, who was named Time magazine's Person of the Year on Wednesday, has urged his own Church to be more fair, frugal and less pompous and to be closer to the poor and suffering. His message will be sent to national leaders, international organizations such as the United Nations, and NGOs. Titled "Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway to Peace," the message also attacked injustice, human trafficking, organized crime and the weapons trade as obstacles to peace.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

*** Child Labor still exists in India , and many parts of the world . As you know many goods are manufactured overseas bidding the cheapest way for American goods . It appalling to me to buy something that was manufactured using child labor . I argue why ship jobs overseas why can't we pay Americans a decent wage ? In stead the "greedy and selfish Capitalists"  ( 1 %) prefer paying children 90 cents a day to sow clothing so it can be shipped overseas to America.. The  Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) however fails to lift the inequality of women in the church . Pope Francis stuck to traditional church doctrine in key teachings such as rejection of abortion and not allowing women to be ordained priests. But he pointedly mentioned that women must have more influence in the church. The Argentine-born pope, who is particularly devoted to the Madonna, ended the document with a long prayer to Mary.