More on Economics

There is an article on Why Catholics Don't Understand Economics. What he really means is why Catholics don't agree with him on economics.His assumption is because they are all fools. That is one way to argue. That anyone who disagrees with you must just not be very bright. He even admits that many of these people have demonstrated great intelligence in other fields. But what I find interesting is he connects Catholicism with dissent from what he sees as the magisterium of economics. As someone who wants to think with the church that raises all sorts of red flags. Why should Catholic, both traditional and liberal, all have a blind spot for the truth in this area. That is not my observation. It is his. I would have said more traditional Catholics, at least in the US, tend to think like protestants when it comes to politics. In fact, many of the influential voices are protestant converts. But he does not see that. He sees Catholics as a group being hostile to his theory. That gets me thinking that either Catholicism is wrong or Jeffery Tucker is wrong. I'm thinking I want to be one of those stupid Catholics who can't understand what Jeffrey Tucker is saying.

Now why would Catholics come to different conclusions about economics? It is not because we can't comprehend scarce resources. Any 5 year old can get that. I can think of a few things. First, many Catholic thinkers on the subject have worked with the poor. This leads them to a people-centered analysis rather than a money-centered analysis. Then there is the matter of grace. Grace does not add up. Think of Mal. 3:8-12:

  "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
      "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
      "In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.  "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

Now this makes no sense to an economist. You give with no logical reason to expect something back. Yet you do expect something back. A resource may be scarce but God can open the floodgates of heaven. There is a sense that we are to worry about the little things God gives us to manage and let God worry about the big stuff.

Anyway, there are many reasons why Jeffery Tucker can't comprehend Catholic thinking on the economy. Lack of intelligence is not one. But the wisdom of God is foolishness to men.