Hey Ken! You can't take it with ya! Dummy!
For an 80 plus savy money man Mr Langone is about as naive as an 8 year old when it comes to a basic understanding of the Bible and Jesus' teachings. For example;
And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;…MARK 12:42
The message is clear. There's no mincing of words or inuendo. What Ken and those the Pope is calling out for "worshiping" the buck are being reminded of is that Billionaires can't spend a few million here and there to get their names on the wall of a cathedral or a tax dedcution and consider that a ticket to heaven.
The rich play the "charity" card for all the wrong reasons. Tax write-offs and acolades are not charitable acts and more self-serving.
According to Langone, such criticism from the Holy See could ultimately hurt the sensitive feelings of the rich so badly that they become “incapable of feeling compassion for the poor.” He also said rich donors are already losing their enthusiasm for the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan — a very specific threat that he mentioned directly to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
Pope Francis is the "messenger" Ken. The message is from up above and it might behove you and your friends to heed the call; especially as the day of reakoning nears.
The Pope's Criticism Of Capitalism Has One Wealthy Donor Very Upset
Some of the statements in question are from Francis' first teaching, or "exhortation," a 224-page document issued in late November. In it, the pontiff criticizes what he calls "an economy of exclusion and inequality," blaming ideologies that "defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation."
Just in case you and your friends missed it Ken here's what the Pope is talking about;
From the end of 2008 to the middle of 2013 the total U.S. wealth increased from $47 trillion to $72 trillion. And about $16 trillion of that is financial gain (stocks and other financial instruments).
The richest 1 percent own about 38 percent of stocks and half of are non-stock financial assets. So they've gained at least $6.1 trillion (38 percent of $16 trillion). That's over $5 million for each of 1.2 million households.
The next richest 4 percent, based on similar calculations, gained about $5.1 trillion. That's over a million dollars for each of their 4.8 million households.
The least wealthy 90 percent in our country only own 11 percent of all stocks excluding pensions, which are fastly disappearing. The frantic recent surge in the stock market has largely bypassed these families.
In 2009 the average wealth for almost half of American families was ZERO (their debt exceeded their assets).
In 1983, the families in America's poorer half owned an average of about $15,000. But from 1983 to 1989 the median wealth fell from more than $70,000 to about $60,000. From 1998 to 2009, about 80 percent of American families LOST wealth and they had to borrow as a way to stay afloat.
It seems the disparity couldn't get much worse, but after the recession, it did. According to a Pew Research Center study, in the first two years of recovery the mean net worth of households in the upper 7 percent of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28 percent, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93 percent dropped by 4 percent. And then, from 2011 to 2013, the stock market grew by almost 50 percent with again the great majority of that gain going to the richest 5 percent.
Today our wealth gap is worse than that of third-world economies. Out of all developed and undeveloped countries with at least a quarter-million adults, the U.S. has the 4th-highest degree of wealth inequality in the world trailing only Russia, Ukraine and Lebanon.
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