CUA Business School's First Conference, Part II | National Catholic Reporter

CUA Business School's First Conference, Part II | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Day two began with Ave Maria University's Catherine Pakaluk.  It is at this point that I usually say "next!" but I must slow down and look at this accident. She brought up Starbucks fair trade campaign in her piece on solidarity - but mentioned that the Barista needs a bit of solidarity too.  I think I agree with Starbucks - that every part of the chain is to be dealt with in solidarity.  In other words, it people in peonage pick your oranges, it is not enough to shop at a union grocery - everything matters.  See Walmart and China.  MSW made some interesting comments relating the virtue of the markets and Federalist 51 (if people were angels...). Sounds like an invitation for government action to me!  How is the creative part - and as most of my readers know, I have some definite views on that.



Mary Hirschfeld of  Villanova spoke next.  She is both an economist and theologian (credentialed, unlike yours truly).  She examined self interest, and how that shakes out in modernity (and needs satisfaction, which sounds like consumerism to me). The constant push for more has us work too hard, in her view, and has us look for ways to keep turning resources into products.  I would add that the most important resources are the human ones. The irony of capitalism is that consumerism prevents workers from seeking a good old Marxist revolution.  While we have workers who don't get enough who sound radical - give them more and they won't be.  This is why I am leery about guaranteed income schemes that don't also change who controls work (the correct answer, by the way, even for non-Marxists, is the workers - with pay following control.