Trickle-down Theory of Economics

 

The recent issue of the Catholic Peace Weekly in the Eyes of the Priest column, we hear his thoughts on the Trickle-down Theory of economics.

On the 16th of last month, the government announced the new economic policy direction. Many wondered what direction the new government's economic policy would take in the era of high inflation. One of the most controversial issues was the corporate tax rate cut. Corporate tax is a tax levied on the income of a corporation. Simply put, it is an income tax levied on a company.

However, according to the government announcement, the key is to lower the current top tax rate of 25% to 22%. The logic is that if the tax on companies that make a lot of money is reduced, the economy will be activated as a result with the creation of new jobs, which naturally increases the country's growth potential. 

This is a classic trickle-down theoretical approach. It is argued that if economic support is provided to the wealthy and entrepreneurs, the overall economy can be improved by being more active, and the resulting benefits will also be passed on to the low-income classes.

However, the problem is that this trickle-down theory has never been proven effective in real life. Reducing the tax did not have a major effect on investment and employment, but rather increased the company's internal reserves. In 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Monetary Fund's IMF Strategic Policy Evaluation Bureau, released a report that analyzed the cases of more than 150 countries around the world and found that the so-called trickle-down effect is completely wrong logic. 

Even Pope Francis has spoken on the trickle-down effect, saying: "In the past, there was a belief that when a glass is full, the profits will be shared with the poor, but now when the glass is full, the glass magically gets bigger, giving nothing to the poor."  The Pope also points out in the Encyclical: "All Brothers", that neoliberalism repeatedly reproduces solutions to various social problems, relying on a magical trickle-down theory, but today’s problems of inequality are not solved in this way. 

A Research Institute also came up with an analysis that estimated the decrease in tax revenue, which was about 1.7 trillion won as of the report in 2020. However, lowering the corporate tax rate is not just a reduction in tax revenue. In the end, the tax revenue reduced by the tax cuts for the rich can lead to someone else's tax increase, or the government's essential spending can be cut by that much. There is also concern that the various supports given to the socially vulnerable right now may be reduced.

In this sense, the economic policy direction of the new government should be reviewed again. I hope that we can support the socially and economically vulnerable with the tax from the profits of companies that earned more, so we can try to resolve the polarization that has become more severe due to COVID-19. 

It seems that a policy that takes care of those who have the most difficulty with rising prices is needed first, rather than focusing on the corporate tax of large corporations that can survive on their own when the economy gets tough. When the new government establishes the economic policy direction, it is good to remember that the word 'economic' in Korean is 經濟 and the abbreviated phrase 經世濟民 means economics is the way to manage the world and save the people. This is important for all of us to remember.

Understanding Depression as a Catholic

 In the recent issues of the Catholic Times and Catholic Peace Weekly two articles reviewed a book published many years ago and recently translated into Korean: The Catholic Guide to Depression by Catholic psychiatrist Aaron Keriaty with Fr. John Cihak, STD.

"If a patient of faith asks if he should pray more or take medicine for the treatment of depression, my answer is do both." The guide is for ordinary Christians suffering from depression, as well as pastors, religious, spiritual leaders, and doctors who are by their side to help them. 

Growing faith can free you from the pain of depression?  Or depression has nothing to do with religious life? The writer points out that these tips worsen rather than alleviate depression. It's advice that does not understand depression as a disease or the impact of depression on the spiritual life and faith.

Psychiatry and psychology have taught us a lot about depression, but the whole picture of this suffering is complex. This is because biological and psychological factors as well as all kinds of social, cultural and spiritual factors are caused and influenced by them. 

The word 'depression' has the meaning of 'a hollow on a flat road'. Therefore, in order to properly understand the causes and aspects of depression, which is multifaceted, and to treat it appropriately, we have no choice but to talk with philosophy and theology.

The author is visited by many Catholics, including priests suffering from depression. To meet mental health professionals who share their faith. The causes of depression are complex, and each person is born with strong genetic factors and environmental factors early in life. Genetic and environmental factors manifest their influence regardless of our living circumstances or choices, no matter how earnestly we pray or how moral we are. 

"Religiously devout people, and even saints suffered from severe depression." The author approaches depression from two perspectives, holding on to the Catholic view that there is an essential unity between the soul and the body, and between the mind and matter. While examining the medical, psychological, social, and spiritual causes and treatment methods of depression from the 'top'; and from the 'bottom', that is, genetic and other biological factors and treatment options for depression are discussed.

Pope Saint John Paul II, in his speech at the 18th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health and Pastoral Affairs held in November 2003, said: "With his infinite love, God is always near to those who are suffering. Depression can be a 'path to discovering a different side of you', and it can be a new encounter with God." Exploring depression from a Catholic point of view may serve as a lure for readers seeking clues to new encounters with themselves and with God.

 

 

'Death With Dignity' Meaning?

The Catholic Peace Weekly in the Diagnosis of the Times column introduces the readers to the movement for euthanasia in Korea. 

On June 16, 2022, the "Assistance and Dignity Act" was proposed. The reason for the proposal of this bill is that, in a recent public opinion poll (1,000 adults), 76.3% supported euthanasia because of increased interest in 'death with dignity. They are trying to promote the right to self-determination that allows one to end their life with the assistance of the doctor in charge. 

First of all, the law presupposes that euthanasia is a 'death with dignity. In the Declaration on Euthanasia (1980) published by the Pontifical Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, euthanasia refers to 'the act or omission which in its nature or intent causes death intending to eliminate all suffering'. In other words, euthanasia intentionally induces death by directly administering a poison or stopping the supply of water and nutrients essential to sustain life. Direct or indirect, irrespective of the act, aimed at the death of the patient. 

In addition, ending one's life with the help of a doctor is called "doctor-assisted suicide." Unlike general suicide, the only means of suicide is to be provided by a doctor, so it is called doctor-assisted suicide by combining 'physician assistance' and 'suicide'.

This act of purpose for death, from euthanasia to doctor-assisted suicide, we call murder. But why is it called 'death with dignity? Euthanasia is the cessation of a drug or life-sustaining action with the intention of a third person to kill the patient. 

 

In other words, doctors believe that doctors should assist patients' demands for self-control and control over their own lives through the right to self-determination, and this is regarded as the realization of human dignity. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are absolutely unacceptable acts confusing murder with dignity.

In 2018, Australian ecologist Goodall committed assisted suicide in Switzerland because life was no longer enjoyable. This led the poll participants to a practical understanding of euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the survey period (March-April 2021) was a depressing time for all citizens due to the pandemic. In addition, they are in favor of euthanasia for reasons such as the meaninglessness of the rest of life (30.8%), the right to a good (dignified) death (26.0%), and alleviation of pain (20.6%). 

This requires very careful reflection. Many people in our society have lost meaning for life. This is already proven by the high suicide rate, which is a very serious situation. Also, there is a widespread misconception about what one means by a good (dignified) death.

Professor Yoon Young-ho of the Department of Family Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, who led this poll, points out that patients should first look at the situation in which they want to be euthanized. In other words, medical measures to reduce the physical and mental pain of patients or support for medical expenses, and efforts to make the rest of their lives meaningful are needed first. This is because reaching the end of life with dignity is not something that can be obtained by hastening death, but is only possible when you accompany the patient with human warmth until the end.

North Korea And Climate Crisis

On the Catholic Website Now/Here, a Religious Sister's lecture on Understanding North Korea right away was reproduced. 'Climate Crisis and North Korea's Response' was the topic.

 

Natural disasters occur every year due to the climate crisis. South Korea, the 11th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, declared carbon neutral by 2050. Although North Korea emits less than one-tenth of South Korea's greenhouse gas emissions, it is actively responding to climate crisis adaptation and carbon emission reduction. 

 

In June last year, North Korea submitted a Voluntary National Review to the UN on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are the agenda that the UN General Assembly decided to achieve by 2030 at the 2015 UN General Assembly, and presented 17 common human goals for sustainable development. Through the report, North Korea expressed its intention to participate in the efforts to achieve the SDGs pursued by the world and announced the current status of its SDGs and its implementation plan.

 

Sister Jin introduced the report and explained that North Korea is in "the struggle against climate change and its impact. In 2015, there was a drought and heavy rain, and the average temperature that year was 1 degree Celsius higher than the average year. In August and September 2016, record heavy rains fell along the Tuman River in North Hamgyong Province, causing the river to overflow. From 2018 to 20, there have been higher than normal temperatures, typhoons, human casualties, and huge damage to crops and infrastructure, and more than one natural disaster has occurred every year for the past decade. 

 

North Korea is diagnosing itself as "a country prone to extreme climate change." In addition, North Korea stated in the report that solving the energy problem is the country's top priority. It reports that the use of renewable energy is increasing but the proportion of use is small. Sister explained that North Korea has set a goal of reducing 36 million tons (15.65 percent) of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and 157 million tons (50.34 percent) with international aid. 

 

Planning for climate change adaptation in science, forestry, and energy North Korea has been aware of the various social and economic problems caused by climate change even before this report, and after adopting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, it has ratified all climate change-related treaty documents. Specifically, regarding North Korea's perception of the climate crisis, Sister said that since there is little information publicly available to the international community, she can guess based on North Korean media reports such as "Rodong Newspaper" and "Democratic Chosun". 

 

First of all, North Korea is making efforts to develop science and technology in almost all fields, including scientific farming methods and solutions to food crises. According to Meteorology and Hydrology, the only climate-related academic journal published four times a year, research on the modernization and information of weather and climate predictions is increasing. A developed weather information notification program even though they did not disclose detailed research, achievements, observation equipment, technology, etc. because North Korea recognizes meteorological information as military information. A smartphone app, 'Weather' 2.0, is a 'mobile phone weather information service system' in North Korea.

 

The next area that North Korea is focusing on in response to the climate crisis is forest restoration and energy. In the 2000s, North Korea established a 10-year forest plan, but failed due to a lack of investment and weakened social control. North Korea self-diagnosed and set up a 10-year forestry and agricultural complex management strategy and business plan for 2015-24.

 

Sister said that energy discourse has rapidly increased in North Korea since 2010, so even if it is not a friendly country, they are introducing examples of renewable energy. She also said that North Korea is promoting the development of energy technology and making it known, and trying to expand 'zero energy' (producing enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption) and 'zero carbon' technologies. In 2013, North Korea adopted the renewable energy law. 

 

However, the facilities and technologies are outdated and the rainfall is not constant, so a dramatic increase in electricity production has not been achieved. According to the National Statistical Office, as of 2019, electricity use in North Korea was only 49.3 percent. Electricity utilization rate refers to the proportion of the population with access to electricity. "There is a phenomenon in which households, small institutions, and companies import small solar panels and voltage devices from China and use them in their places of work."

 

Sister Jin saw that North Korea, which is aware of the seriousness of the climate crisis and is making various plans to respond to the climate crisis in science, forestry, and energy, suggests the possibility of cooperation with South Korea.

We See As Much As We Know

 Prayer is a time when we acknowledge that we are sinners who cannot love by ourselves and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. In the Catholic Times in a column on the subject: we see as much as we know. Those who know they have wounds are those who receive treatment.

Some years ago, there was a Spanish YouTuber who gave 20 euros (about 25 dollars) to a homeless person along with an Oreo cookie filled with toothpaste. He was fined about 20 thousand dollars and sentenced to 15 months in prison. The homeless man vomited it right away. The YouTuber claimed that he had no intention of insulting the homeless person. He thought he had done a good deed of donating 20 euros. He even said that toothpaste had a positive effect on him, who hadn't brushed his teeth for a long time.
 
The love that human beings want to give to someone is often the same as this young man's actions. There is something like toothpaste in side a delicious cookie called our love. By nature, human beings cannot fully love. This is because, in my love, often the selfish mind loves in the way it is advantageous to oneself.
 
Sin is breaking God's commandment to love one another. "To forsake the true love of God and of neighbor" is a sin. But a more fundamental sin is pride, believing that one can love on one's own strength. To believe in oneself too much and to love oneself becomes a sin of ignoring God's help and contempt for God. To believe that one can love as God without God is trying to become like God with one's own strength.
 
We need the help of others to live as human beings.
Moreover, it is a sin to believe that you can have a reasonable level of love without God's help when you enter the kingdom of God here on this earth.

So what should we do? I must reveal that I am a sinner. The Lord wants us to admit that we are sinners, like the "doctors who need to examine wounds." Then help me. Doctors can only treat people who show their wounds.
 
'David', the main character of Steven Spielberg’s film 'A.I.' (2001), is not a human but an artificial intelligence robot. Like Pinocchio, David believes that he can become a human too, with the help of a blue fairy. But David is abandoned by humans. David finds a statue of a blue fairy in the depths of the sea. He prays and prays to the fairy to make him human.  
 

David knew that he couldn't be human, at least by his own power. That's why he chose "pray." David's prayer was a plea to recognize himself as a machine and to be reborn as a human being. The same goes for our prayers. It is time to acknowledge that we are sinners who cannot love by ourselves and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Love is poured into us by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
 
Therefore, only those who acknowledge that they are sinners can pray. Prayer is an effort to believe in the gospel as "the revelation of God’s mercy" and to love in his strength, like patients who shows their wound to the doctor. It is only through this process we are freed from sin and reborn as beings with the power to love.

What Does Dying with Dignity Mean?

In the Catholic Peace weekly column and editorial, we have the issue of active euthanasia and assisted suicide visited again.
 

 "Please allow active euthanasia and assisted suicide in Korea too", "Why don't we have the right to die?" These are the articles posted on the petition bulletin board of the Blue House a few years ago. A research team at Seoul National University Hospital surveyed 1,000 people and published it in May. It was found that more than 7 out of 10 were in favor of legislating euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide.

Reasons in favor were 'because the rest of one's life is meaningless, 'the right to die with dignity, and 'pain relief'. On the 15th, the doctor-assisted suicide bill was proposed to the National Assembly. It is the first for Korea. A member of the Democratic Party of Korea who proposed the bill along with 11 fellow lawmakers, cited the rising public opinion in favor of euthanasia as one of the reasons for the bill. Along with the expression for assistance for 'death with dignity.

How should we respond to the argument that euthanasia should be legislated because "there is no meaning in living" or "the public opinion in favor of euthanasia is high"? The priest head of the Catholic Bioethics Institute, put it this way: "It's necessary to think carefully about whether life and its value come from our economic efficiency and the comfort that materials bring to us." Moreover, it is not justified to regard death as one's right and to legalize it based on public opinion. In February, Pope Francis said: "We should be with those who are about to die, but we should not do anything that causes death or aids suicide."

Taking one's own life or the life of an innocent person in any way is not a 'freedom' or 'right' but a 'sin'. How can we say that the act of hastening death with the help of someone is humane and dignified? It is at least an unacceptable argument for Christians who believe and confess that God is the master of life— we need to say 'no' firmly to 'false mercy'? 

If the bill is passed, Korea will become a country that allows assisted suicide like many European countries, such as Switzerland and Belgium.

However, considering that 76.3% of the people are positive about assisted suicide, an appropriate alternative is needed. Many experts are suggesting hospice palliative care as an alternative. Currently, our hospice situation is poor. The ward utilization rate is 23% based on cancer patients. This is significantly lower than the UK, which is 95%.

This year's budget is only 9.6 billion won. If the 'well-dying system', which makes the rest of life meaningful, is not properly maintained, the demand for euthanasia or assisted suicide will intensify. The government and the National Assembly should strengthen hospice and palliative care services rather than enact controversial bills. It is time for churches and believers to take an active role in improving the hospice system along with opposition to the bill.

The Poor and Marginalized

 

The Catholic Peace Weekly in its Diagnosis of the Times column gives the readers an understanding of the work to be done within the church.

The fourth cardinal of the Korean Catholic Church was recently announced. It is an auspicious occasion to rejoice and celebrate together. 

When Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Yoo Heung-sik as a cardinal, congratulations poured in from inside and outside the church. Cardinal Su-jeong Yeom, the only cardinal in the Korean church, "asked for a lot of pastoral attention for the world church, especially in the poor and marginalized regions of Asia and Africa", and Archbishop Jeong Sun-taek, the Archbishop of Seoul, also said, "I pray that the voices of the poor and marginalized will be heard." Both Cardinal Yeom and Archbishop Jeong's messages call for concern, solidarity, and activity for the 'poor and marginalized.

What about ordinary people? What kind of words are expressed in the well-wishing on occasions of this type? On the morning of the new year, the wishes from adults are usually to stay healthy or earn a lot of money. Money always seems to be high on the scale of values no matter what.

It's a vulgar world where money is everything, but the church continues to talk about the 'poor and marginalized. The world seems to be all about money, but the more it is, the more desperate it is to take care of those who are kicked out and pushed out just because they don't have money.

He is grateful to the Catholic Church, which speaks of the poor and marginalized in congratulatory greetings that might otherwise be ceremonial. But it is not just words, but concrete actions. The key is what the Korean Catholic Church is doing for the poor and marginalized here and now. This is not limited to special pastoral fields such as social welfare.  It is important to embody the spirit of the gospel in everyday life, such as what you did today, who you met, and who you ate with.

An important key in the daily life of the gospel is for the clergy, who can be the face of the church, to set an example. Therefore, it would be good to look at how the bishops and priests of the Korean church spend their daily lives in terms of 'poor and marginalized people'. It would be good to establish a standard such as visiting a nearby correctional facility at least once or twice a month. It would be good for them to freely enter the world, not just among themselves or the few. If it's difficult to go out every time, it would be nice to invite others to share a meal together with them
 
For example, the Seoul Archdiocese alone employs quite a few workers at the parishes, offices, and institutions. Thousands of people work in various forms of employment. Many people are dedicated to things not easily seen, such as security, maintenance, and cleaning. What if the diocesan bishop invited these people just a few times a year to share a meal together? There will be many people who regard the meal itself as a blessing. In addition, it will be a good opportunity to talk to the person in charge of the various problems that the parish is facing without filtering. If there are people who are suffering from the heavy workload and thin wages, they may be able to find real answers to improve working conditions.

As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan's birth, let's think about why Cardinal Kim remains in our hearts to this day. The first cardinal? Leading the development of the Seoul Archdiocese? Because of social influence? There are many answers, but the most convincing one is probably because he constantly tried to be with the poor and marginalized.

The world's logic is pretty much the same. Some follow it and some don't. It won't be too difficult if you start changing your daily life and begin relating with the poor and marginalized.