Accepting the grace and challenge of being builders of unity --- rather than austerity.

The quote from Pope Francis's speech below
can be read with Australia in mind. 
The picture at left describes part of the problem. 

Below is the solution.

Our government preaches austerity and 

cuts funding to needy organisations

helping people with real needs.

Yet the wealthy seem to be touched very lightly.

“We must not respond with nonchalance, or complain we do not have the resources to do the job, or that the problems are too big,” Francis said on Wednesday while celebrating an open-air Mass in Quito, the Ecuadoran capital.

“Instead, we must respond by taking up the cry of Jesus and accepting the grace and challenge of being builders of unity,” the Argentinean-born pontiff said.

The above quote is taken from a speech made by Pope Francis in Ecuador during his visit to Latin America. 

Read a fuller report here.

Kerry-anne Mendoza is a former ­management consultant in banking, local government and the NHS, who left her job to join the Occupy protest. She blogs at Scriptonite Daily.  Here is an excellent article by her outlining why running a public service like a business will never work.

The 2015 Manning Clark lecture

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Tuesday 10 March 2015 8:05PM

IMAGE: MANNING CLARK IN HIS ROOF-TOP STUDY AT HOME, CIRCA 1988 ©2002-PRESENT MANNING CLARK HOUSE INC.LINK TO LARGER IMAGE.

Is it possible to plan 100 years into the future? What are enlargers & punishers and what influence have they had on Australia’s past, present and possible futures? Richard Denniss delivers the 2015 Manning Clark lecture and asks what can economists learn from one of this country’s most influential historians.

Highlights of the 2015 Manning Clark lecture, 3rd March, Canberra

Manning Clark 
Listen to the lecture here
The 2015 Intergenerational Report by Treasury

The Pope to speak at the American seat of government: Bernie Sanders on economic disparity as the rich get richer, the middle class disappears and the poor get poorer

Senator Bernie Sanders is a bit of a political institution in the USA where he sits in the Senate. He is an independent but for many practical situations, he counts as a Democrat. 

The speech below begins in relation to the planned visit of Pope Paul to speak from America's seat of government. Please take time to listen to Senator Sanders and the economic statistics he quotes. His statistics relate to the USA but the spirit of them is the same for Australia. The convergence of finance and resources towards the top minuscule per cent away from the bottom majority. 

Bernie Sanders asks:  

What religion condones this type of economic disparity? 

The question we should be asking of ourselves is:

Should we be asking that question of our political leaders who profess to belong to and practice various faiths? 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AND SOVEREIGNTY

AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION ON FACEBOOK - 

THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AND SOVEREIGNTY

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh shared Bernie Sanders's photo.

4 hrs · 

Which one of our Australian politicians - all parties and independents included - has ever made a statement similar to this? I can't think of any.

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• Di Perkins, Michael Croft and Megan Anne like this.
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  Michael Croft http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../piketty-myth-of...

  

  Piketty: 'The Myth Of National Sovereignty Helps Big Corporations Screw Us Over'

  French economist Thomas Piketty has put inequality...

  HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

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• 

  Brigid O'Carroll Walsh Michael Croft Is "National Sovereignty" the same as or equal to Tribalism? Are there good points to such tribalism or sovereignty? I ask this because I sometimes wonder about social cohesion - which is easier to see in less populous nations. Is there a middle ground between claustrophobic tribalism and the rampant anonymity of an internationalism that is footloose, feckless and fancy free and with only slight ties and loyalty to any community.

  Like · Reply · 42 mins
• 

  Michael Croft No, they are not the same thing, although some will equate nationalism to tribalism as they share some similar characteristics. The "ism" is the issue in both cases. Sovereignty is the ability of people (or state) to determine their own systems, codes, laws etc. and not have that overridden by others systems, laws, codes etc. Obviously personal sovereignty and state sovereignty clash often, but what is new is corporations being granted rights that challenge those of nation states when they are domiciled elsewhere. The ISDS provisions in the TPP is granting this power. The ISDS provisions are the same as permitting an Australian citizen going into the USA and s/he being permited to suing the USA for the losses incurred because they were not granted a Green Card, whilst simultaneous not paying income tax in the USA because you are not a citizen of the USA. That's how insidious the new trans national corporate vision is for the world. This is already being done to Australia with our plain packaging laws for cigarettes, Australia is being sued by a foreign corporation - hence the myth of national sovereignty, we are no longer in charge of our own law making even if it is to benefit our own citizens.

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  Brigid O'Carroll Walsh Thank you for this extensive yet simple reply Michael Croft - I have saved this post in my Evernote!

  Like · 1 min · Edited

   

  Footnote:  Readers will find a definition of ISDS here. And more information is here.