Western world faces economic decline, says head of Vatican bank
June 21, 2011
The head of the Vatican bank sees a bleak economic future for the world’s industrialized countries, unless they can reverse a decline in productivity.
Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, writing in L’Osservatore Romano, says that he expects economic growth in the developing world, and a decline in the West. “The law of economic gravity will progressively transfer investments to emerging countries,” says the chief Vatican banker. With capital flowing elsewhere, he says, the level of consumption in the Western world will be “unsustainable.” He suggested that the best way for Western countries to counteract the trend would be by increasing productivity and encouraging exports to the developing world.
Gotti Tedeschi argued that government efforts to revive the economy by public spending have actually worsened the problem. “Many think that individual States need to intervene in order to resolve economic problems,” he said. “But that happens with an increase in public debt. Countries that have chosen this path now regret it.”
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Posted by: samuel.doucette1787 -
Jun. 22, 2011 10:33 AM ET USA
rpp, It seems that the USCCB also has yet to get that message. Their peace and justice bureaucrats reflexively favor increased government spending and social programs to help the poor instead of private charity. Subsidiarity is a forgotten concept to that crowd.
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Posted by: dover beachcomber -
Jun. 21, 2011 11:51 PM ET USA
Another example of the all-too-familiar pattern: (1) people reject the Church's teachings and try something else; (2) everything seems to be OK for a while, so the Church is taunted as old-fashioned; (3) a generation or two later, the grim results of rejecting truth become apparent, but by then it's too late.
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Posted by: rpp -
Jun. 21, 2011 6:30 PM ET USA
“Many think that individual States need to intervene in order to resolve economic problems,” he said. “But that happens with an increase in public debt. Countries that have chosen this path now regret it.” A very sage observation, which, unfortunately, has not yet happened within the current American presidential administration. Or perhaps it has and that is their point...
