Pope Francis'Wealth Made from Financial speculation intolerable-Speculation on Commodities a Scandal

[J_J_]

Francis has been labelled a communist by some hard right elements in the US after denouncing the ‘tyranny of capitalism’, calling the wealth made from financial speculation as intolerable and saying speculation on commodities was a scandal that compromised the poor’s access to food.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2813459/Pope-Francis-insists-no-communist-just-following-Catholic-teachings-defending-rights-poor.html

Why are we allowing Goldman Sachs to speculate on food when As the U.S. emerges from the worst recession since the Great Depression, 25% of children don’t have enough food to eat

Goldman lobbied Congress to drive our costs up to make themselves more money. They even named it after themselves "Goldman Sachs Commodity Index" GSCI

Now millions in this country are suffering without enough to eat because Goldman Sachs needed more money.

Just as easily as this was started, just like the Koch brothers introducing oil speculation, we can reverse this and stop these bastards from stealing our money.

[J_J_]

1. more info: How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis

How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis
Don't blame American appetites, rising oil prices, or genetically modified crops for rising food prices.
Wall Street's at fault for the spiraling cost of food.

It took the brilliant minds of Goldman Sachs to realize the simple truth that nothing is more valuable than our daily bread. And where there's value, there's money to be made. In 1991, Goldman bankers, led by their prescient president Gary Cohn, came up with a new kind of investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa, cattle, corn, hogs, soy, and wheat. They weighted the investment value of each element, blended and commingled the parts into sums, then reduced what had been a complicated collection of real things into a mathematical formula that could be expressed as a single manifestation, to be known henceforth as the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI).

For just under a decade, the GSCI remained a relatively static investment vehicle, as bankers remained more interested in risk and collateralized debt than in anything that could be literally sowed or reaped. Then, in 1999, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission deregulated futures markets. All of a sudden, bankers could take as large a position in grains as they liked, an opportunity that had, since the Great Depression, only been available to those who actually had something to do with the production of our food.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis

[rhett o rick]

24. And remember who Goldman-Sachs is sponsoring for the Presidency.

Her initials are HRC.

[hifiguy]

2. This pope is clearly a horse of another color

when compared to popes since John XXiii. A pronouncement like that is going to leave a mark and impress people all around the world.

As for Goldman, all of the top management should be marched to a guillotine set up in front of their building, then shaved with the National Razor, including HRC's BFF Blankfein. He can get the "honor" of going first. Then their families should be sold into slavery in Dubai, and the company smashed to atoms and scattered to the four winds. But not before repatriating every penny that can be found of the countless bllions they have stolen over the last 35 years.

[TexasProgresive]

4. I would agree with you but these hard cases

will never open their minds to what he is saying. Popes before him have made similar points but to no avail. The few who benefit from impoverishing many will continue to rationalize their actions and to open the floodgates of propaganda that the rest of us should get with the program and "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, like we did".

[hifiguy]

5. i think he will change the minds of some US Catholics

who are on the fence. The worldwide impact could be much greater.

[J_J_]

8. yes, billions inspired worldwide

Billions working together to make sure everyone has enough to eat, somewhere to sleep, needed medical care...what could be better?

[markpkessinger]

23. The problem Pope Francis faces is not with lay Catholics in any country . . .

. . . but is rather with the episcopate. His two predecessors, over a span of 35 years, made a point of filling every bishopric that became vacant with a bishop who was just as doctrinaire and reactionary as they were, and who was also relatively quite young. And just as we saw within the last couple of weeks with the Pope's call for a more pastoral approach to LGBT and divorced Catholics, while the Pope can say whatever he wants, the second he actually tries to implement his ideas that the Old Guard considers too far afield, those reactionary bishops will quash his proposal like a bug.

[calimary]

28. Sounds like what bush/cheney did here.

Appointed as many like-minded people to positions that don't automatically turn over when the next administration takes charge.

DAMMIT, WHY DON'T PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE THINK DEVIOUSLY LIKE THAT? The takeover will be complete, right under our noses, before our people actually wake up. Because of this political Ebola virus, the damage is systemic. Sometimes it feels as though we're slowly but surely being swallowed up by a huge political opportunistic infection.

[Enthusiast]

14. I like the way you think.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. I like it. I also like the idea of storming Goldman's headquarters à la the Bastille.

The Bastille fortress was a symbol of royal power during the French Revolution. These days Goldman is a pretty good symbol of "royal" power. And, after the Bastille fell, the head of the guy who ran the place, Marquis de Launay, was put on a pike and paraded around Paris...

Get out the torches and pitchforks! I have a garden fork, and maybe I could use my tiki torch.

[hifiguy]

20. Blankfein's head on a pike would be a heart-warming image.

Wish I could Photoshop.

[meow2u3]

26. We can use the 21st century version of pitchforks and torches

[deminks]

3. I call it Big Poverty

Some call it the Poverty Industry

http://beforeitsnews.com/banksters/2012/10/shocking-report-jp-morgan-makes-over-half-billion-dollars-off-food-stamps-2431996.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/01/jp-morgan-s-food-stamp-empire.html#

The Bible calls it the money changers - people who make money off of money. Jesus threw them out of the Temple. Today's self professed Christians would lay down and die for them, no doubt about it.

I am sort of liking this Pope. Little by little. Sort of.

[QuestionAlways]

18. This is a Pope Jesus would be proud of

This Pope listened to what Jesus said and what he was concerned about

[Bluenorthwest]

6. But then he also says gay people's rights are Satan's idea and contraception is murder

so if he really cared about his economic message being taken seriously, he might want to drop the superstition and bigotry.

[J_J_]

9. Homosexual activist Elton John: Pope Francis 'is my hero'

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/homosexual-activist-elton-john-pope-francis-is-my-hero

[theHandpuppet]

19. I'm gay and Elton doesn't speak for me

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[LeftyMom]

21. Life Site News? Really?

[Bluenorthwest]

27. That link is to a right wing Canadian web site which is opposed to LGBT equality and to women's

right to reproductive choice. Disgusting to see it here. A vile, horrible site.
You should self delete that shit at once.

[hifiguy]

10. I am an atheist and I recognize that

turning an institution as old, bureaucratized and barnacle-encrusted as the catholic church is like raising the Titanic with a pair of tweezers. This economic message is a very significant stride in the right direction and he's making a lot more noise on this issue than on the ones you mention.

[Enthusiast]

13. +1

[Bluenorthwest]

29. I'm gay and I recognize that when people explain that they need to take lots of time to stop an

injustice, all they are doing is advocating continued injustice. Excusing bigotry and harm done to others. That's all they are doing. 'But but, the old men neeeeed to keep abusing you'. Fuck that.

[daleanime]

7. K&R....

[PeoViejo]

11. The same thing happened just before the French Revolution

Speculators and hoarders had raised the cost of Flour to the point where none but the wealthy could afford a loaf of Bread.

Thus the reply from Marie Antoinette, when told the people had no Bread to eat.: " Let them eat Cake."

[Enthusiast]

12. Kicked and recommended! I'm with the Pope on this.

[Rex]

16. It is kinda obvious we don't care. America is all about making money.

And not caring if 1 in 3 kids goes to bed without food in their belly. Hey they should get a job and stop being lazy.

[hedgehog]

17. Is the Pope Catholic?

(Well, someone had to ask)

In truth, I think the Founder was crucified for saying much the same thing.

[hifiguy]

22. The fundies' lily-white Jebus

doesn't seem to have much in common with the fella you reference.

[nc4bo]

25. Gosh, I can't figure this guy out for nothing.

But I love he's a breath of fresh air. I shall just keep watching.

[theHandpuppet]

30. Says the leader of one of the biggest financial powers on earth

Last edited Sun Nov 2, 2014, 12:32 PM - Edit history (1)

With billions in shares in international corporations and global banks, vast real estate holdings, gold and treasure.

Yeah, get back to me on that, your holiness.

[Bluenorthwest]

31. The link he gave is to a far right wing anti choice, anti gay webstite from Canada

It should not be on DU, and those who are backing that poster up should be ashamed.

[theHandpuppet]

32. Should be but they won't be

Why deal with facts when you can just react to headlines and meaningless rhetoric?

[Bluenorthwest]

34. That site's voting guide for Tuesday has this pro Republican take on things:

Vote with a well-formed conscience that is unconditionally pro-life.
We are responsible for the formation of our consciences and for choosing as wisely as possible from among the laws and candidates on our ballots. Whenever possible, we must vote for candidates who stand with the Church on ending abortion, defending traditional marriage, and opposing euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/a-catholic-obligation-to-vote-november-4



It's a full tilt right wing hate site, entire sections dedicated to attacking LGBT people.

[Arugula Latte]

35. The Vatican should just officially change its name to PlunderCo.

[Douglas Carpenter]

33. knr - thanks for posting