Think about the costs of the financial crisis. According to the International Labor Organization, 34 million people around the world have lost their jobs. According to the World Bank, 60 million people were pushed further into extreme poverty, living on less than $2 a day. And what caused it? Greed. Excessive risk-taking by a financial sector, secure that it could keep the upside and have the taxpayer pay all the downside. It was a lucrative one-way bet and it paid off. (more…) Read more
In light of MZ’s post on the refusal to the Republicans to extend unemployment benefits to over a million of our brother and sisters who cannot find work, I thought I would recognize some core Catholic teaching in this area. Here is John Paul II in Laborem Exercens: “The role of the agents included under the title of indirect employer [at the national and international level that are responsible for the whole orientation of labour policy] is to act against unemployment,... Read more
I believe that von Balthasar said somewhere that with Mozart’s piano concerti we have wonderful artistic analogues to the exchange that takes place in the communio of the Trinitarian God. Following up on Henry’s recent offering of Sir John Tavener on Mozart, I offer for all our readers the 2nd movement of the master’s final piano concerto. Enjoy! Read more
In the Senate there is a bill in limbo for continuing unemployment benefits. Prior to the depression we’ve experienced, unemployment benefits ended at 26 weeks. These benefits had been extended. In some states they were up to 99 weeks. By not passing this bill, roughly 1.3 million people will stop receiving unemployment assistance almost immediately. This is happening in a time where many states have unemployment rates exceeding 10%. This bill which would continue unemployment benefits failed a cloture vote.... Read more
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Carl Schmitt noted that, “the sovereign is the one who decides on the exception.” That is, when the system of laws established in a given state fail to meet an unexpected crisis in that state, the one who has the authority to act in that crisis is the sovereign. Or, if the exception is what proves the rule, the one who has the authority in that exception transcends the rule and so cannot be judged by it. The question is... Read more
The gospel today was quite interesting to me. For those attending children at the time, we meet two men that desire to follow Jesus. One is rebuked for wanting to bury his father before becoming a disciple. The other is rebuked for wanting to wish his parents farewell. The first reading today is of Elisha being called by God. Elisha desires to wish his parents farewell. Elisha is allowed to so do so however, and having done so, he follows... Read more
Politics gets a bad name for itself. Too often it is just cynically dismissed. Political cynicism is one of those bipartisan values. It’s embraced by moderates and reactionaries. I certainly do understand the frustrations, having fallen into the temptation myself. While we can entertain a myriad of logical possibilities toward solving our societal problems in our ideological sanctuaries, politics smothers those possibilities into metaphysical ones that aren’t always inclusive of our fifth preference, let alone our first. (more…) Read more
Part VIII Prayer is difficult for us in the modern world because its dictates run contrary to the way we have been socialized. We try to control the world around ourselves, while prayer reminds us that ultimate control is not in our hands. Presently, we have been encouraged to be self-sufficient individuals whose happiness lay in ourselves. Prayer requires us to get out of ourselves, to realize that we need others, especially God. It shows us that humanity, by itself,... Read more
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