Book Recommendations for the Pope

Apparently the Pope is speaking once again about the failures of the economy.  There is little reason at this point for a line-by-line critique; I have done that before – search for Pope Francis at this blog.  I only offer the following book recommendations:

He said: “At the centre of all economic systems must be man, man and woman, and everything else must be in service of this man.”

Read Human Action.  A properly functioning economy does put man and woman at the center, with producers in service of consumers (and not the other way around, as we suffer under today).  For an easier read that gets to the same place, try Man, Economy and State.

During the interview, Pope Francis - who has not shied away from speaking out since he took over as the head of the church - denounced the influence of war and the military on the global economy.

He said: “Since we cannot wage the Third World War, we make regional wars. And what does that mean? That we make and sell arms.

“And with that the balance sheets of the idolatrous economies -- the big world economies that sacrifice man at the feet of the idol of money -- are obviously sorted.”

I wish he wouldn’t use “we” unless he means to include himself.  In any case, it isn’t just for profits that government and the military-industrial-complex pursue war.  Read Crisis and Leviathan.

Finally, there appears not a word about the evil institution at the root of the problems the Pope decries.  In this regard, read this.

(Tom Woods, can you forward this note please?)