Globalization hurting workers, says Pope

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, criticizing the growing gap between the rich and the poor. He wants the United Nations reformed to create "a true world authority" that will manage the economy for the common good.

He speaks about the "the damaging effects on the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing, large-scale migration of peoples (and) the unregulated exploitation of the earth's resources".

Globalization in its current form is hurting workers and weakening social security, he says. Read the papal encyclical, Caritas In Veritate (Charity In Truth), where he upholds the rights to food and water and "a just wage" and calls for freedom of religion and the "ethical use of technology". He says:

The global market has stimulated first and foremost, on the part of rich countries, a search for areas in which to outsource production at low cost with a view to reducing the prices of many goods, increasing purchasing power and thus accelerating the rate of development in terms of greater availability of consumer goods for the domestic market. Consequently, the market has prompted new forms of competition between States as they seek to attract foreign businesses to set up production centres, by means of a variety of instruments, including favourable fiscal regimes and deregulation of the labour market.

These processes have led to a downsizing of social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market, with consequent grave danger for the rights of workers… trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labour unions.

The Pope is not against globalization per se. He says:

There is no reason to deny that a certain amount of capital can do good, if invested abroad rather than at home. Yet the requirements of justice must be safeguarded, with due consideration for the way in which the capital was generated and the harm to individuals that will result if it is not used where it was produced…

There is no reason to deny that a certain amount of capital can do good, if invested abroad rather than at home… It is true that the export of investments and skills can benefit the populations of the receiving country…Yet it is not right to export these things merely for the sake of obtaining advantageous conditions, or worse, for purposes of exploitation...

He urges international cooperation to protect the rights of migrants and says that "foreign workers, despite any difficulties concerning integration, make a significant contribution to the economic development of the host country".

Calling for an "ethically responsible use of technology", he points out there can't be technical solutions to every problem.

Often the development of peoples is considered a matter of financial engineering, the freeing up of markets, the removal of tariffs, investment in production, and institutional reforms — in other words, a purely technical matter. All these factors are of great importance, but we have to ask why technical choices made thus far have yielded rather mixed results.

Development will never be fully guaranteed through automatic or impersonal forces, whether they derive from the market or from international politics. Development is impossible without upright men and women, without financiers and politicians whose consciences are finely attuned to the requirements of the common good.

Ingeniously he argues how marriage and children can help nations prosper.

Populous nations have been able to emerge from poverty thanks not least to the size of their population and the talents of their people. On the other hand, formerly prosperous nations are presently passing through a phase of uncertainty and in some cases decline, precisely because of their falling birth rates; this has become a crucial problem for highly affluent societies. The decline in births, falling at times beneath the so-called “replacement level”, also puts a strain on social welfare systems, increases their cost, eats into savings and hence the financial resources needed for investment, reduces the availability of qualified labourers, and narrows the “brain pool” upon which nations can draw for their needs…

It is thus becoming a social and even economic necessity once more to hold up to future generations the beauty of marriage and the family, and the fact that these institutions correspond to the deepest needs and dignity of the person. In view of this, States are called to enact policies promoting the centrality and the integrity of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the primary vital cell of society, and to assume responsibility for its economic and fiscal needs, while respecting its essentially relational character.