Fiscal Cliff, Unions in Michigan & the Church | National Catholic Reporter

Fiscal Cliff, Unions in Michigan & the Church | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB: First off, another option for cost savings is to regulate prices in one of three ways - 1. paying beneficiaries less to force lower prices through the market by making it smaller, 2. price regulation through establishing single payer and 3. direct price regulation at the state and federal level. If none of these is possible, additional revenue is the only answer, which can come from the rich, from a payroll tax or a consumption tax. 

Second, truly helping the poor takes more money, not less, because it means adult literacy, not training to change bed pans in nursing homes and hospitals. TANF is a joke and many have been sent to disability, making them a federal problem and taking away any incentive for personal improvement. Many of our policies make people poor, desperate and because you can work part time on disability, permanently in the lower working class. Going beyond that takes a lot of rehabilitative education and attention. The Church can be faulted for not providing adult education on as massive a scale as it provides it to youth, even if we get the Feds to pay for it.

Third, thank you for recognizing the need for a living wage. Almost there - what is needed is to recognize it must be tax subsidized to a greater extent than it is now. The quotations from the Holy Father on the global economy (especially the more Marxian ones) are quite helpful.

Fourth, the bishops probably don't believe in right-to-work for the mostly feminist teacher's unions, who are consistently pro-choice and consistently running up against a wall when trying to unionize Catholic schools. I would not expect them to join hands with the ATF and NEA on any cause.

Fifth, it is the party of neither party to support Catholic theology.  Indeed, the closest thing we have to a call for a Christian Democratic Party is actually an evangelical organization called the Center for Public Justice.  They do not affiliate with either side and don't spend too much time quoting Catholic doctrine.  They talk of Kuyper.  

Finally, I don't expect the President to endorse a pro-life agenda - and I hope he will not because most of the American agenda is about Republican electoral advantage - I hope he goes beyond that to justice for every child. To have him speak fluently in the language of Catholic social thought he would have to hire staff who can write in both his voice and that language. Looking for a job, MSW?