The News: Addressing the plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Pope Benedict directly assailed the neo-liberal political economy of the Chicago and Austrian schools. The Pope said,
"[The economic crisis] has also shown the error of the assumption that the market is capable of regulating itself, apart from public intervention and the support of internalized moral standards. This assumption is based on an impoverished notion of economic life as a sort of self-calibrating mechanism driven by self-interest and profit-seeking. As such, it overlooks the essentially ethical nature of economics as an activity of and for human beings.'"
Mary Ann Glendon, president of that academy, summarized the most salient conclusions the Academy had reached in its several days of sessions. In particular, participants in the working groups "spoke of a shift from an economy based in the real production of goods to an economy dominated by speculative activities driven by greed." In addtion, two speakers cautioned against the "danger of the 'financialization' of human relations, in which human activities, even in the family, are reduced to a merely commercial dimension."
"Such a 'financialized' approach to the social order not only narrows the vision of the human person, but creates instability in the economy," Glendon said.
The Note: Gee, could they have had NINJA loans and the Abacus 2007-AC1. in mind? But wait! Blankenfein said he was doing "God's work". Must be a different God. Or maybe it was just a "giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity." (No, the Pope didn't put it in quite those words).
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