Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Economics of Sex

The real and rather interesting non-religious argument against contraception:



Oddly enough, Pope Paul VI, author of Populorum Progresso predicted exactly this in Humanae Vitae.

Going back to Papal Economics, Fr. Zieba claims that Pope Paul VI was disconnected from reality on economics in his encyclicals. I put forth that he was in fact *very* attached to the reality of the law of supply and demand- and could see coming that human beings were losing out to the impersonal equation dictating price- is exactly why Populum Progresso looked to the State for some sort of balance in enforcement of morality, and in Humanae Vitae, called for an end to contraception to reset the high price of sex.

14 comments:

Theodore M. Seeber said...

In my opinion (which really applies to everything I say), Christians look at Jesus as all-knowing when he was anything but. By saying he is God, that made everything he said technically correct. So, instead of just having knowledge that any first century carpenter would have, he is looked upon as the ultimate authority on everything. So, if this is the case, it would be appropriate for a general contractor to issue checks in the same amount at the end of the week to two laborers even though one worked five days and the other worked one. The one who worked the whole week would have no right to question how the one who worked one day could be paid the same amount. That is just not a good way to run a business.

Another bit of poor advice is telling people to live day to day without saving for retirement thinking that their Heavenly Father will take care of them. It shows how little Jesus knew about business and finance.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

"That is just not a good way to run a business."

Perhaps, running a business is not the only reasonable way to value what we do.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

My point is that Jesus only knew what a first century carpenter would ordinarily know about what you might consider "worldly" things.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

And in the intervening years, has the minimum material support to keep a human being alive changed?

I would say no, it hasn't. Human beings *still* need food, clothing, shelter, and clean water. Have all along. Even the most primitive extended family knows this, and finds a way to provide these things for every member of the clan.

So why can't your vaulted free market?

Theodore M. Seeber said...

Am I to take that as an indication that you oppose the free market?

Theodore M. Seeber said...

I oppose, in general, the use of freedom to do harm to others, and the potential in a completely free market to do harm to others is quite large indeed.

I also oppose a totally controlled and centralized market, where the potential of the controlling committees to do harm to others is likewise large.


It is for this reason that I would prefer markets to be limited in both size and scope, and regulated to prevent harm. ARM vs Intel is a good case study in small vs large markets.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

Ted,

How do you feel about Lon Mabon?

Theodore M. Seeber said...

Lying sneak using conservative values for self-enrichment. That, and I worked against his takeover in the 1990s of Klamath Falls City Government (somehow, I didn't think that gay bashing was a reason not to prosecute assault and battery cases- especially when I was the victim of such gay bashing despite being heterosexual).

He also has a tendency to be for big corporation solutions- which are just as bad as big government solutions.

I supported Bill Sizemore in the primary against Lon Mabon for Governor- and would pick *any* pro-lifer over that nut (not that I have to- after going to jail for misuse of campaign funds he's been pretty quiet).

Theodore M. Seeber said...

Was his organization sued by a lesbian who was physically removed from filming one of their meetings. Did she ever get paid? As far as I could find she didn't and he is in deep debt to the government and others.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

One of his organizations was. He's had two or three- and yes, he's deeply in debt from all the court cases against him (and the mismanaged campaigns).

Theodore M. Seeber said...

I would have to say that he is not a very good representative of Christianity. It is people like him who make other non-Christians dislike Christians that much more.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

I don't find very many protestants to be "a very good representative of Christianity". More of a bad parody of Christianity.

In the spirit of Pope Francis's call for unity under the Greatest Commandment, I won't call them heretics anymore. But many of them are cartoonish versions of the real thing.


I'm to the point that I see the theology of sola scriptura leading naturally to atheism- because how can you look at what these people call religion and NOT wonder if God still exists?

Theodore M. Seeber said...

Sola scriptura is easily torn apart by atheists. Catholics pose the only real challenge.

Theodore M. Seeber said...

I think it's a bit worse than that.

Since the Bible never actually refers to the Bible as scripture, belief in a dead book as an idol of authority is so full of holes that it directly leads to websites like this one:
http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

I call these people Biblical Atheists, because they haven't really left the fundamentalism of Sola Scriptura behind- their entire proof against God is scriptural.

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