Pope condemns trickle-down capitalism

When Pope Francs sent a public message, through his first Papal Exhortation, that he does not believe that the “trickle down theories, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness, in the world,” he is inviting accusation of being against capitalism. In fact, Rush Limbaugh, a leading American political commentator, dismissed the message as “pure Marxism coming out of the pope.”

The papal exhortation is an official statement issued by the Vatican. It ranks below the formal encyclicals which are used to state the position of the Catholic Church on major issues. The first encyclical was issued in 1841. But exhortation is above the level of a simple letter.

His first Papal Exhortation is a 238-page document entitled Joy of the Gospel. Pope Francis is believed to be laying down the major themes for his tenure as the head of the Church.

What is the Pope really trying to tell us? Is he really arguing against capitalism, the ideology that has been credited by most of the world, including former Communist countries, as the major weapon in the battle against poverty? Rather than engaging in a debate about the correct interpretation of his message, here are his exact words:

“Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.

Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a ‘throw away’ culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live: those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the leftovers”.

Pope Francis is describing an economic environment that has existed for as long as the history of mankind. This exploitation of the poor and the weak by the rich and the powerful has been the source of revolutions and crusades for as long as man has lived in societies. And long before capitalism was introduced by Adam Smith and his ilk.  

But the Pope seems to have singled out the free market economy as the primary culprit for today’s economic ills. Here is what he says:

“In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion, at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.

The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle, they fail to move us.”

If we view this exhortation within the Philippine context, it is impossible to disagree with the papal exhortation. Pope Francis writes: “No to the new idolatry of money.” In this section he further says:

“One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion and ourselves.... While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation.”

Pope Francis has advanced a very controversial economic proposition when he says economic growth resulting from the free market or capitalist system has never succeeded in bringing about “inclusiveness in the world.” This is again contrary to the prevailing economic thesis that reducing poverty is best gained through the efforts of bigger investment and expansion of the private sector.

One of the Pope’s most radical statements is that we have expressed a “crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system.”

In the Philippines, those wielding economic power are the 50 to 100 richest families who control major family business conglomerates, the corporate managers of the multinationals operating here, and political dynasties that have accumulated economic wealth due to their political power.

If we are not supposed to trust in the “goodness” of these people, then the question is who do we trust? Who then should wield economic power in this country? We have learned from the bitter lessons of the Marcos and Arroyo years that we cannot trust government to wield economic power since the result was crony capitalism and systemic corruption. So who do we trust? And what system will replace the present one based on the “idolatry of money”?

In my next column on Sunday, I will continue this discussion about the Pope’s views on the evils of “widespread corruption and self serving tax evasion” and “the economy and the distribution of income.”

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