Smarter than Krugman
I am not in the habit of looking for helpful economic commentary from American Catholic bishops, but this is worthy of note. The Bishop of Brooklyn, in his weekly column, discusses the current economic situation, and shows more understanding than most of our political or journalistic class:
Fighting Poverty to Build Peace.
At the same time, we look to our own economic situation today and the many who have analyzed it in various ways. Some have said that it is the fault of deregulation, unfettered capitalism, or even greed. Some economists, however, have recently taken a deeper look and recognized that although these factors contributed to our present situation, the actual causes can be traced to an unusual monetary policy and novel federal regulatory interventions which favored affordable housing through expanded purchases, and sub-prime loans to low-income applicants. Policies that foster an ownership society are good, however, the consequences when deregulation and greed came together were disastrous. This led to the wrong investments by financial institutions which led them to unsustainable positions. A common code of ethics and sensible policies are truly needed to reestablish our own economic situation.
Read the whole thing. Well done, Bishop DiMarzio.
