The Catholic Right's Assault on Keynes

In a recent blog post Paul Krugman piqued my interest in Ettore Gotti-Tedeschi, the Director of the Vatican Bank, or as it is officially called, the Institute for Religious Works. How does my Church's banker-in-chief view the current economic situation?
What I learned left me nervous.




Krugman cites an article in which Gotti-Tedeschi claims that Keynesian economics opposes an "attitude of saving."
I know that Keynes viewed savings differently, so I looked more deeply into Gotti-Tedeschi's views and learned that what first appeared to be the off-the-cuff ramblings of a conservative banker may be part of an effort by the Catholic Right to thwart a Keynesian comeback.

The director of the Vatican Bank suggested that Keynesian economics is responsible for much of the world's current economic woes. This struck me as odd, considering that for more than the last thirty years the financial world emphasized a free market "Washington Consensus" view. He was quoted by the Catholic News Agency as saying:


He said Keynes' crisis-averting tactics can be seen in the U.S., where government economic policy has focused on increasing public expenditures - and public debt - in order to stimulate private economic activity, including consumer demand and employment.
In addition, also following Keynesian wisdom, the U.S. is printing more money and has looked at increasing taxes in an effort to generate more public revenues.

Tedeschi warned that these policies are leading to a "nationalization" of private debt in the U.S. He also criticized the government bailouts of private banks that offered too much credit without adequate guarantees. This too is leading to increased government control of the economy in the U.S. - a "nationalization" that is being paid for with newly printed currency.

But he continued on:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/2/21/93251/2321/Dominionism_in_the_military/The_Catholic_Right_s_Assault_on_Keynes

It goes well with some other stuff I have been looking at.

:hi: