Listen to Martin Kerr and Jesse Wells. Protest Music !!

AWAY IN BOMB SHELTERS

By Martin Kerr

WAR ISN'T MURDER

By Jesse Welles

 

Jon Stewart's explanation on corporate trickle down.  

“When corporations fail you pay for it. But when they succeed, it’s theirs.  They socialize their losses and privatize their gains. Why do we allow that?

[Voice of an apologist for Capitalism on cable news] “Consider this wealthy people do not stash their billions in safe deposit boxes loaded with $100 bills. They don’t do that and they don’t spend it all at the mall. They don’t spend like crazy. No wealthy people invest. It is investment that creates jobs and economic growth.”]

See this is the lie they tell you. That all this money flowing towards corporate moneyed interests is actually for your benefit. That government intervention for corporations is our free market, but government intervention for workers is socialism. And that’s the reason for all the socialism scaremongering. It’s a false choice to make you believe that this country has but two options: a socialist, authoritarian, hamburgerless, Venezuelan nightmare, or accept the status quo where large corporations benefit from government help, then use some of those profits to lobby the same government for more government help.

They want you to believe that in the free market, while your wages stay low, someday the largesse will eventually trickle down. And in the meantime, enjoy watching your tax dollars help billionaires launch themselves into ******* space.”

(“Jon Stewart's explanation on corporate trickle down.”  Bing Videos. Accessed Dec 22, 2024)

Posted by Rick Malloy, S.J.  Dec 22, 2024.  

 

Heather Cox Richardson (2023) Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (Viking), p. xii-xiii.

“The key to the rise of authoritarians… is their use of language and false history

Authoritarians rise when economic, social, political, or religious change makes members of a formerly powerful group feel as if they have been left behind. Their frustration makes them vulnerable to leaders who promise to make them dominant again. A strongman downplays the real conditions that have created their problems and tells them that the only reason they have been dispossessed is that their enemies have cheated them of power.

Such leaders undermine existing power structures, and as they collapse, people previously apathetic about politics turn into activists, not necessarily expecting a better life, but seeing themselves as heroes reclaiming their country. Leaders don’t try to persuade people to support real solutions, but instead reinforce their followers’ fantasy self-image and organize themselves into a mass movement. Once people internalize their leader’s propaganda, it doesn't matter when pieces of it are proven to be lies, because it has because become central to their identity

As a strong man becomes more and more destructive, followers’ loyalty only increases. Having begun to treat their perceived enemies badly, they need to believe their victims deserve it. Turning against the leader who inspired such behavior would mean admitting they had been wrong and that they, not their enemies, are evil. This they cannot do.

Having forged a dedicated following, a strongman warps history to galvanize his base into an authoritarian movement. He insists that his policies – which opponents loathe – simply follow established natural or religious rules his enemies have abandoned. Those rules portray society as based in hierarchies, rather than equality, and make the strongman's followers better than their opponents. Following those “traditional” rules creates a clear path for a nation and can only lead to a good outcome. Failing to follow them will lead to terrible consequences.”

Mary Did You Know (Lyrics bt Jennifer Hardy)

 

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message. December 20, 2023

Read Mary’s Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55. 

This is prayed every evening in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours.

Friends,

Mary’s song sung at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel is a powerful prayer that proclaims the “Greatness of the Lord.”  Mary rejoices in all the God is doing for the salvation of the world and all the peoples of this planet.  God has mercy.  He cares for the poor and sends “the rich away empty.”

Jennifer Hardy has rewritten the words to the popular Christmas Song, “Mary Did You Know.”  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_pae1ZfxWw ).  Hardy’s lyrics poetically parallel Mary’s Magnificat.

Mary Did you Know?

Mary did you know, that your ancient words would still leap off our pages?

Mary did you know, that your spirit song would echo through the ages?

Did you know that your holy cry would be subversive word,

that the tyrants would be trembling when they know your truth is heard?

 

Mary did you know, that your lullaby would stir your own Child’s passion?

Mary did you know, that your song inspires the work of liberation?

Did you know that your Jubilee is hope within the heart

of all who dream of justice, who yearn for it to start?

 

The truth will teach, the drum will sound, healing for the pain

The poor will rise, the rich will fall. Hope will live again

 

Mary did you know, that we hear your voice for the healing of the nations?

Mary did you know, your unsettling cry can help renew creation?

 

Do you know, that we need your faith, the confidence of you,

May the God that you believe in, be so true.

Lyrics by Jennifer Henry (inspired by the popular song of the same name) Mary did you know? – Rewrite! – SCM Canada

 

On behalf of Cristo Rey Jesuit, I wish you all a Wonderful (full of wonder), peaceful, Merry Christmas.

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

        

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J. 20 de Diciembre, 2023

Lee el Magnificat de María, Lucas 1, 46-55. 

Se reza todas las tardes en la Liturgia de las Horas de la Iglesia.

Amigos y Amigas

El canto de María al comienzo del Evangelio de Lucas es una poderosa oración que proclama la "Grandeza del Señor".  María se alegra de todo lo que Dios está haciendo por la salvación del mundo y de todos los pueblos de este planeta.  Dios tiene misericordia.  Cuida de los pobres y despide "a los ricos con las manos vacías".

Jennifer Hardy ha reescrito la letra de la popular canción navideña "Mary Did You Know" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_pae1ZfxWw).  La letra de Jennifer Hardy hace un paralelo poético con el Magnificat de María.

¿Sabías, María?

¿Sabías, María, que tus antiguas palabras aún saltarían de nuestras páginas?

¿Sabías, María, que tu canto espiritual resonaría a través de los siglos?

¿Sabías que tu grito santo sería palabra subversiva

que los tiranos temblarían al saber que tu verdad es escuchada?

 

¿Sabías, María, que tu canción de cuna despertaría la pasión de tu propio Hijo?

¿Sabías, María, que tu canto inspira la obra de la liberación?

¿Sabías que tu Jubileo es esperanza en el corazón

de todos los que sueñan con la justicia, que anhelan que comience?

 

La verdad enseñará, el tambor sonará, curación para el dolor

Los pobres se levantarán, los ricos caerán. La esperanza volverá a vivir

 

María ¿sabías, que oímos tu voz para la curación de las naciones?

María ¿sabías, que tu grito inquietante puede ayudar a renovar la creación?

 

¿Sabes que necesitamos tu fe, tu confianza?

Que el Dios en el que crees, sea tan verdadero.

Letra de Jennifer Henry (inspirada en la popular canción del mismo nombre) Mary did you know? - Mary did you know? – Rewrite! – SCM Canada

En nombre de Cristo Rey Jesuita, les deseo a todos una Maravillosa (llena de asombro), pacífica, Feliz Navidad.

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo

ADVENT: Prayer is the answer

 

ADVENT PRAYER

 Richard G. Malloy, S.J., Ph.D.

“Spiritually we seem to be in an enormous vacuum.  Humanly speaking there is the same burning question - what is the point of it all?  And in the end, even that question sticks in one’s throat.  Scarcely anyone can see or even guess at, the connection between the corpse-strewn battlefields, the heaps of rubble we live in and the collapse of the spiritual cosmos of our views and principles, the tattered residue of our moral and religious convictions as revealed by our behavior.  And even if the connection were fully understood it would be only a matter for academic interest, data to be noted and listed.  No one would be shocked or deduce from the facts a need for reformation.” - from The Prison Meditations of Alfred Delp, S.J.  Fr. Delp was executed by the Nazis Feb. 2, 1945.

 Some think our world has become insane and inhumane: wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, an evermore unjust distribution of the world’s goods, systemic racism and sexism, global warming, on and on.  We feel the tug of the abyss in our hearts, much like Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J., who was executed by the Nazis in the Spring of 1945, and who describes well both his and our times.  Advent is a time to slow down and quiet down and listen for the small whisperings of God’s love and presence amidst the pains and confusions of life.

Sometime during Advent, see if you can find Paradise Road.  This movie about a group of women held in concentration camps by the Japanese during WWII is an extraordinary story of human courage, care and compassion.  It shows how even the simplest practices of beauty and art (in Paradise Road the formation of a human voice orchestra) can counter and transform even the most horrific situations, and counter the most bestial acts humans can perpetrate against one another.  Like those abused and mistreated women, we also are called to be human and loving in a too often brutalizing and bruised world.

If I told you that doing “X,” one simple practice, will guarantee that you do better in confronting the insanities of ours and every age, will help you feel less stressed out throughout December, and actually appreciate, even enjoy, life in our days, despite all the problems and pain, would you want to know what “X” is?  You already do.  It is prayer.

The answer is prayer, that simple yet difficult practice of paying attention to God.  Prayer is a way of allowing God to grace us with inner harmony and outer peace.  Prayer is a practice that helps us reach our heart’s deepest and truest desires: our heartfelt search for meaning, and our ultimate origin and destiny, i.e., God.  Prayer is that discipline of slowing down, breathing, getting quiet, feeling the rhythms of life, and touching (and being touched back by) our infinite source of joy and jubilation, respect and renewal, hope and healing: the Lord of love and life.  Prayer is looking at Jesus, contemplating what the Gospels tell us of him, and paying attention to what the Risen Christ present and active in our lives is doing here, now, today!  Prayer is sacraments and singing, loving and listening, inspiring and imagining.  Prayer is an evermore fascinating adventure, the most challenging task in life, and the most incredible experience available to us.

So why don’t we pray?  We live in a time that finds belief in God difficult.  We have seen the past century knee deep in blood and know the violence of our times.  Murder rates are down in Baltimore and other places, but still way too high. We have felt, deep down in our dark, quiet nights, the fear and fragility of being a mere human being.  We don’t pray because slowing down and listening brings us face to face with the difficulties and dangers of our human experience.

Advent is for people who have felt the need of a God who cares, a God who will come to us in our weakness and save us.  Advent is a time of waiting, a time to wait anxiously and see if the dark days stop getting shorter and once again increase in light.  Fr. Alfred Delp and The women in Paradise Road knew this waiting.  Advent is a time to know that God comes to us as we are, in all our confusion and chaos, tragedy and tension.  Truth be told, God comes to us in our stale, stinking, sinful condition.

“Unless a man has been shocked to his depths at himself and the things he is capable of, as well as the failings of humanity as a whole, he cannot understand the full import of Advent.” - Alfred Delp, S.J.

 Once we reach out in prayer for a way through the morass of the human condition, we meet a God who is here with us, Emmanuel.  This God comes to us.  This God saves us.  This God promises peace.  Can we believe it?  Will we believe it?

Thomas Merton, writing in an introduction to Fr. Delp's prison meditations, notes, "In effect, the temptation to negativism and irrationality, the urge to succumb to pure pragmatism and the massive use of power, is almost overwhelming in our day."

Our times can tempt us to prostitute ourselves to pure pragmatism and block out the deep and haunting questions of human existence.  But such blocking out also will dampen and extinguish the ability to feel exhilaration and joy.  Then we can sink into negativity and irrationality.  Still, the practice of prayer will keep us from being overwhelmed and open us to the grace of sanity.

Advent Prayer is waiting prayer.  If we wait attentively, we will feel less stress, less pain, less lack of purpose.  As we pray, we can begin to feel the quickening of hope in our and the whole world’s soul.  Sitting in a church chapel 15 to 30 minutes a day, reading the Bible each night before sleeping, going to daily Mass, praying a rosary daily, or reading a good spiritual book, will give us inner strength, and energize us for the tasks ahead.  Life will be seen more as promise and possibility deep within the paradoxes.  Once again God will be born: in our hearts, through our prayer.

Have a Blessed Advent Season.

 
Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message.  June 6, 2023

Friends,

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  Along with Pentecost and the Feast of the Holy Trinity, this focus on the Eucharist plunges us into the central mystery of our faith: Our God is an incarnate God, a God with and for us.  In Jesus, God takes on human flesh, human reality.  Our God is as real as the heart pumping in each of us.  Our God is as real as the food we eat every day.  Our God feeds us as the Israelites were fed with manna in the desert.

In our celebration of the Eucharist, the Mass, Jesus is really, substantially, present in four ways.  In the community gathered, in the Word proclaimed, in the person of the priest, and in the consecrated bread and wine.  In this work of the people, the liturgy, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross continues to save and transform us.

One person, bemoaning the fact that so many take the Eucharist for granted and show little response to this great gift and mystery, challengingly asks, “What if the bread and wine change, but we don’t?”  The grace of Eucharist transforms us in Christ to become his body in the world today.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims:

“I am the bread of life.  …  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”  The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  …

            Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?  What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe.”  …

            As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.  Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6)

Our praying the Eucharist sends us forth to transform our world.  Many find it difficult to accept the challenge of this teaching.  So it was in Jesus’ time.  So it is in ours.  Let’s ask God to help us receive the Eucharist in ways that truly transform us.  The Eucharist makes us disciples who are Happy and Healthy and Holy and Free.

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

 

     

Fiesta del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J.  6 de Junio, 2023

Amigos y Amigas,

Este domingo celebramos la Fiesta del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo.  Junto con Pentecostés y la fiesta de la Santísima Trinidad, esta concentración en la Eucaristía nos sumerge en el misterio central de nuestra fe: Nuestro Dios es un Dios encarnado, un Dios con y para nosotros.  En Jesús, Dios toma carne humana, realidad humana.  Nuestro Dios es tan real como el corazón que late en cada uno de nosotros.  Nuestro Dios es tan real como los alimentos que comemos cada día.  Nuestro Dios nos alimenta como los israelitas fueron alimentados con el maná en el desierto.

En nuestra celebración de la Eucaristía, la Misa, Jesús está real, sustancialmente, presente de cuatro maneras.  En la comunidad reunida, en la Palabra proclamada, en la persona del sacerdote y en el pan y el vino consagrados.  En esta obra del pueblo, la liturgia, el sacrificio de Jesús en la cruz sigue salvándonos y transformándonos.

Una persona, lamentando el hecho de que tantos den por sentada la Eucaristía y muestren poca respuesta a este gran don y misterio, pregunta desafiante: "¿Y si el pan y el vino cambian, pero nosotros no?".  La gracia de la Eucaristía nos transforma en Cristo para convertirnos en su cuerpo en el mundo de hoy.  En el Evangelio de Juan, Jesús proclama:

"Yo soy el pan de vida.  ... Yo soy el pan vivo bajado del cielo; el que coma de este pan vivirá para siempre; y el pan que yo daré es mi carne para la vida del mundo".  Los judíos discutían entre sí, diciendo: "¿Cómo puede éste darnos [su] carne a comer?".  Jesús les dijo: "En verdad, en verdad los digo: si no comen la carne del Hijo del hombre y no beben  su sangre, no tendrán vida en vosotros.  El que come mi carne y bebe mi sangre tiene vida eterna, y yo lo resucitaré en el último día.  Porque mi carne es verdadera comida y mi sangre es verdadera bebida.  El que come mi carne y bebe mi sangre permanece en mí y yo en él.  ...

   Entonces muchos de sus discípulos que estaban escuchando dijeron: "Esta palabra es dura; ¿quién puede aceptarla?". Como Jesús sabía que sus discípulos murmuraban de esto, les dijo: "¿Los escandaliza esto?  ¿Y si vieran al Hijo del hombre subir a donde estaba antes?  Es el espíritu el que da vida, mientras que la carne no sirve para nada. Las palabras que los he hablado son espíritu y vida.  Pero hay algunos de Uds. que no creen".  ...

   A raíz de esto, muchos de sus discípulos volvieron a su antiguo estilo de vida y dejaron de acompañarle.  Jesús dijo entonces a los Doce: "¿También Uds. quieren marcharse?".  Simón Pedro le respondió: "Maestro, ¿a quién vamos a ir? Tú tienes palabras de vida eterna.  Hemos llegado a creer y estamos convencidos de que tú eres el Santo de Dios". (Juan 6)

Rezar la Eucaristía nos envía a transformar nuestro mundo.  A muchos les cuesta aceptar el desafío de esta enseñanza.  Así fue en tiempos de Jesús.  También en la nuestra.  Pidamos a Dios que nos ayude a recibir la Eucaristía de manera que realmente nos transforme.  La Eucaristía nos hace discípulos felices, sanos, santos y libres.

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo

 

 

Become Poverty Abolitionists

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message.  May 31, 2023

Friends,

Today is the Feast of the Visitation.  We remember that immediately after the angel tells Mary she will be the mother of the savior, Mary goes in haste to visit Elizabeth.  Mary soon bursts into the Magnificat, the canticle in which she proclaims, “God has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:52-53).  When Jesus comes among us, everything gets shaken up and transformed, including our political economy.

Too many accept without critique the ideals of neoliberal economic thought:  Government should leave markets alone to make the world in which we live; profits for shareholders are primary while the needs of workers and the community matter less and less; corporations are not to be held accountable for the costs of pollution to the planet.  In contradiction to Catholic Social Teaching, neoliberal economics holds that human persons are greedy and self-interested, and everyone fighting in a dog eat dog world is the best we can do

Matthew Desmond, a sociologist at Princeton, in his new book Poverty by America, challenges the assumptions surrounding much of our thinking about poverty, the poor, and the ways we structure our political economy.  He argues we have so many poor people in the United States because we allow it and want this situation to continue. Many of us benefit off of low wages and subsidies that help the rich, while failing to demand public policies that would eliminate poverty among us.  He prophetically and provocatively calls for us to become Poverty Abolitionists. Here are some excerpts from a NY Times article Desmond published March 9, 2023.

 

Excerpts from Matthew Desmond “Why Poverty Persists in America”  

(NYTimes.  March 9, 2023) Why Poverty Persists in America - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   

“We’ve approached the poverty question by pointing to poor people themselves, when we should have been focusing on exploitation.”

“12.6 percent of the U.S. population was poor in 1970; two decades later, it was 13.5 percent; in 2010, it was 15.1 percent; and in 2019, it was 10.5 percent.”  [In 2021 it was 11.6% (source https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html).  That’s some 39 million people.  That’s equal to the population of California - addition by Malloy].

“… [LBJ’s] first five years in office, a breathtaking level of activity. And the result? Ten years after the first of these programs were rolled out in 1964, the share of Americans living in poverty was half what it was in 1960.”

“… cellphones have become more affordable over the past few decades, and now most Americans have one, including many poor people. This has led … senior fellows at the Brookings Institution, to assert that “access to certain consumer goods,” like TVs, microwave ovens and cellphones, shows that “the poor are not quite so poor after all.” 

            No, it doesn’t. You can’t eat a cellphone. A cellphone doesn’t grant you stable housing, affordable medical and dental care or adequate child care. In fact, as things like cellphones have become cheaper, the cost of the most necessary of life’s necessities, like health care and rent, has increased. From 2000 to 2022 in the average American city, the cost of fuel and utilities increased by 115 percent. The American poor, living as they do in the center of global capitalism, have access to cheap, mass-produced goods, as every American does. But that doesn’t mean they can access what matters most. As Michael Harrington put it 60 years ago: “It is much easier in the United States to be decently dressed than it is to be decently housed, fed or doctored.”

Reagan expanded corporate power, deeply cut taxes on the rich and rolled back spending on some antipoverty initiatives, especially in housing. But he was unable to make large-scale, long-term cuts to many of the programs that make up the American welfare state.  …  There is no evidence that the United States has become stingier over time. The opposite is true.  This makes the country’s stalled progress on poverty even more baffling. Decade after decade, the poverty rate has remained flat even as federal relief has surged.

If we have more than doubled government spending on poverty and achieved so little, one reason is that the American welfare state is a leaky bucket. Take welfare, for example:  … [With the1996 reform] Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), [President Clinton] transformed the program into a block grant that gives states considerable leeway in deciding how to distribute the money. As a result, states have come up with rather creative ways to spend TANF dollars. Arizona has used welfare money to pay for abstinence-only sex education. Pennsylvania diverted TANF funds to anti-abortion crisis-pregnancy centers. Maine used the money to support a Christian summer camp. Nationwide, for every dollar budgeted for TANF in 2020, poor families directly received just 22 cents.

“There are, it would seem, deeper structural forces at play, ones that have to do with the way the American poor are routinely taken advantage of. The primary reason for our stalled progress on poverty reduction has to do with the fact that we have not confronted the unrelenting exploitation of the poor in the labor, housing and financial markets.”

“…long history of slum exploitation in America. Money made slums because slums made money. Rent has more than doubled over the past two decades, rising much faster than renters’ incomes. Median rent rose from $483 in 2000 to $1,216 in 2021.”

“According to the F.D.I.C., one in 19 U.S. households had no bank account in 2019, amounting to more than seven million families. Compared with white families, Black and Hispanic families were nearly five times as likely to lack a bank account. Where there is exclusion, there is exploitation. Unbanked Americans have created a market, and thousands of check-cashing outlets now serve that market. Check-cashing stores generally charge from 1 to 10 percent of the total, depending on the type of check.”

“[A novel] describe[s] the problem of suicides on Native American reservations says: “Kids are jumping out the windows of burning buildings, falling to their deaths. And we think the problem is that they’re jumping.” The poverty debate has suffered from a similar kind of myopia. For the past half-century, we’ve approached the poverty question by pointing to poor people themselves — posing questions about their work ethic, say, or their welfare benefits — when we should have been focusing on the fire. The question that should serve as a looping incantation, the one we should ask every time we drive past a tent encampment, those tarped American slums smelling of asphalt and bodies, or every time we see someone asleep on the bus, slumped over in work clothes, is simply: Who benefits? Not: Why don’t you find a better job? Or: Why don’t you move? Or: Why don’t you stop taking out payday loans? But: Who is feeding off this?”

Jesus said “The poor you will always have with you” to Judas (John 12:4-5).  People like Judas keep people in poverty.  Jesus wants us to free everyone from all the enslaves and diminishes our flourishing as human beings and community.  Let’s read Desmond’s book and let’s join together to eradicate poverty in our world.

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

         

Convertirse en abolicionistas de la pobreza

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J.  31 de Mayo, 2023

Amigos y Amigas,

Hoy es la fiesta de la Visitación.  Recordamos que, inmediatamente después de que el ángel le dijera a María que sería la madre del Salvador, María se apresuró a visitar a Isabel.  Pronto prorrumpe en el Magnificat, cántico en el que proclama: "Dios ha derribado del trono a los poderosos y ha enaltecido a los humildes.  A los hambrientos los sació de bienes y a los ricos los despidió vacíos" (Lucas 1, 52-53).  Cuando Jesús viene entre nosotros, todo se sacude y se transforma, incluida nuestra economía política.

Demasiados aceptan sin crítica los ideales del pensamiento económico neoliberal:  El gobierno debe dejar que los mercados hagan solos el mundo en que vivimos; los beneficios para los accionistas son primordiales, mientras que las necesidades de los trabajadores y de la comunidad importan cada vez menos; las empresas no deben responder de los costes de la contaminación del planeta.  En contradicción con la doctrina social católica, la economía neoliberal sostiene que los seres humanos son codiciosos y egoístas, y que lo mejor que podemos hacer es luchar todos contra todos en un mundo donde el perro se come al perro.

Matthew Desmond, sociólogo de Princeton, en su nuevo libro Poverty by America, cuestiona los supuestos que rodean gran parte de nuestro pensamiento sobre la pobreza, los pobres y las formas en que estructuramos nuestra economía política.  Sostiene que tenemos tantos pobres en Estados Unidos porque lo permitimos y queremos que esta situación continúe. Muchos de nosotros nos beneficiamos de los bajos salarios y de las subvenciones que ayudan a los ricos, mientras que no exigimos políticas públicas que eliminen la pobreza entre nosotros.  De manera profética y provocadora, nos llama a convertirnos en Abolicionistas de la Pobreza. He aquí algunos extractos de un artículo del NY Times que Desmond publicó el 9 de marzo de 2023.

Extractos de Matthew Desmond "Por qué persiste la pobreza en América"

(NYTimes. 9 de marzo de 2023) Why Poverty Persists in America - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

"Hemos abordado la cuestión de la pobreza señalando a los propios pobres, cuando deberíamos habernos centrado en la explotación".

"El 12,6 por ciento de la población estadounidense era pobre en 1970; dos décadas después, era el 13,5 por ciento; en 2010, era el 15,1 por ciento; y en 2019, era el 10,5 por ciento."  [En 2021 era del 11,6% (Fuente https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html)  Eso supone unos 39 millones de personas.  Eso es igual a la población de California -adición de Malloy].

"... Los primeros cinco años [de LBJ] en el cargo, un nivel de actividad impresionante. ¿Y el resultado? Diez años después de la puesta en marcha del primero de estos programas en 1964, la proporción de estadounidenses que vivían en la pobreza era la mitad que en 1960."

"... los teléfonos móviles se han hecho más asequibles en las últimas décadas, y ahora la mayoría de los estadounidenses tienen uno, incluidos muchos pobres. Esto ha llevado ... a altos cargos de la Brookings Institution, a afirmar que "el acceso a ciertos bienes de consumo", como televisores, hornos microondas y teléfonos móviles, demuestra que "los pobres no son tan pobres después de todo". 

   No, no es así. No se puede comer un teléfono móvil. Un teléfono móvil no te garantiza una vivienda estable, una atención médica y dental asequible o un cuidado infantil adecuado. De hecho, a medida que cosas como los teléfonos móviles se han abaratado, el coste de las necesidades vitales más necesarias, como la atención sanitaria y el alquiler, ha aumentado. De 2000 a 2022, en una ciudad estadounidense media, el coste del combustible y los servicios públicos aumentó un 115%. Los pobres estadounidenses, que viven en el centro del capitalismo mundial, tienen acceso a bienes baratos producidos en masa, como todos los estadounidenses. Pero eso no significa que puedan acceder a lo que más importa. Como dijo Michael Harrington hace 60 años: "En Estados Unidos es mucho más fácil estar decentemente vestido que estar decentemente alojado, alimentado o aseado".

Reagan amplió el poder de las empresas, recortó profundamente los impuestos a los ricos y redujo el gasto en algunas iniciativas contra la pobreza, especialmente en vivienda. Pero fue incapaz de hacer recortes a gran escala y a largo plazo en muchos de los programas que conforman el Estado del bienestar estadounidense.  ... No hay pruebas de que Estados Unidos se haya vuelto más tacaño con el paso del tiempo. Todo lo contrario.  Esto hace aún más desconcertante el estancado progreso del país en materia de pobreza. Década tras década, la tasa de pobreza se ha mantenido estable a pesar del aumento de las ayudas federales.

Si hemos duplicado con creces el gasto público en pobreza y hemos conseguido tan poco, una de las razones es que el Estado del bienestar estadounidense es un cubo agujereado. Con la reforma de 1996 de la Asistencia Temporal para Familias Necesitadas (TANF, por sus siglas en inglés), el presidente Clinton transformó el programa en una subvención en bloque que da a los estados un margen considerable para decidir cómo distribuir el dinero. Como resultado, los estados han ideado formas bastante creativas de gastar el dinero del TANF. Arizona ha utilizado el dinero de la ayuda social para pagar la educación sexual basada únicamente en la abstinencia. Pensilvania desvió fondos del TANF a centros antiaborto para mujeres embarazadas en crisis. Maine utilizó el dinero para financiar un campamento de verano cristiano. En todo el país, por cada dólar presupuestado para el TANF en 2020, las familias pobres recibieron directamente sólo 22 céntimos.

"Hay, al parecer, fuerzas estructurales más profundas en juego, que tienen que ver con la forma en que se aprovechan rutinariamente de los pobres estadounidenses. La razón principal de nuestro estancado progreso en la reducción de la pobreza tiene que ver con el hecho de que no nos hemos enfrentado a la implacable explotación de los pobres en los mercados laboral, inmobiliario y financiero."

"...larga historia de explotación de los barrios marginales en Estados Unidos. El dinero hizo los barrios marginales porque los barrios marginales hicieron dinero. El alquiler se ha más que duplicado en las últimas dos décadas, aumentando mucho más rápido que los ingresos de los inquilinos. El alquiler medio pasó de 483 dólares en 2000 a 1.216 dólares en 2021".

"Según el F.D.I.C., uno de cada 19 hogares estadounidenses no tenía cuenta bancaria en 2019, lo que supone más de siete millones de familias. En comparación con las familias blancas, las familias negras e hispanas tenían casi cinco veces más probabilidades de carecer de una cuenta bancaria. Donde hay exclusión, hay explotación. Los estadounidenses sin cuenta bancaria han creado un mercado, y miles de establecimientos de cambio de cheques sirven ahora a ese mercado. Los establecimientos de cambio de cheques suelen cobrar entre el 1% y el 10% del total, según el tipo de cheque".

"[Una novela] describe el problema de los suicidios en las reservas de nativos americanos dice: "Los niños saltan por las ventanas de edificios en llamas, caen al vacío y mueren. Y creemos que el problema es que están saltando". El debate sobre la pobreza ha sufrido un tipo similar de miopía. Durante el último medio siglo, hemos abordado la cuestión de la pobreza señalando a los propios pobres -planteando preguntas sobre su ética laboral, digamos, o sus prestaciones sociales- cuando deberíamos habernos centrado en el fuego. La pregunta que debería servir como encantamiento en bucle, la que deberíamos hacernos cada vez que pasamos en coche por delante de un campamento de tiendas de campaña, esos tugurios estadounidenses alquitranados que huelen a asfalto y cadáveres, o cada vez que vemos a alguien dormido en el autobús, desplomado en ropa de trabajo, es simplemente: ¿A quién beneficia? No: ¿Por qué no encuentras un trabajo mejor? O: ¿Por qué no te mudas? O: ¿Por qué no dejas de pedir préstamos? Sino: ¿Quién se está alimentando de esto?"

Jesús le dijo a Judas: "A los pobres los tendréis siempre con vosotros" (Juan 12:4-5).  La gente como Judas mantiene a la gente en la pobreza.  Jesús quiere que liberemos a todo el mundo de todas las esclavitudes y diminishe

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo