Mar/090
Market Economy and Ethics
I found the following article on “Church and Economy in Dialogue” which was presented by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in 1985 at a symposium in Rome. It's an interesting view of ethics and the economy. I'm trying to process it.
I'm a capitalist. I believe in a free economy and market forces. It's my opinion that many of the problems we see with capitalism happen because people (government) interfere with market forces. Don't get me wrong. I like the FDA. I want someone making sure I'm not eating diseased meat. I'm not saying I don't want regulation. However, if you look at current economic woes, I think much of how we got to where we are can be attributed to government involvement where they were trying "to do the right thing."
I was six years old in 1985, so I don't truly understand the context for the article. I know that. I appreciate some of the insights one can draw from the Ratzinger's ideas and I agree that there is a higher calling to bridge economic inequalities when they are as out of balance as they were then and are today. It's a difficult problem. I suspect I'll be thinking about this for a while.
