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Books
The Face is a sequence of 45 poems many of them previously published in literary journals that add up to a ldquo novella in verse rdquo The very long lines of these poems each trailing over to the next without notable pause bespeak a poetic form leaning to prose but does this ldquo novella
Poetry
Kate Daniels
Burning in our twin scarlet fevers,
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
Taking a subway from one island to another—that is something you can do only in a place like Manhattan. Manhattan itself is an island, and I was going from there to Roosevelt Island just across the East River. Coming up the long escalators from subterranean depths, I was stunned to see the riv
Columns
Terry Golway
On a mid-winter’s night in April, I parked myself in front of a television set to watch the Boston Red Sox begin their annual exercise in bitter frustration, only to find myself thinking about Colin Powell. The connection will become clear in a moment.The Boston Red Sox began the 2004 baseball
Charles A. Reilly
The alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. on Guatemala’s presidential election day in December 2003. Another electoral observer and myself, accredited by the Organization of American States, found our way through dense fog and a 35-degree chill to a local high school in the city of Quetzaltenango to mee
Letters
Our readers

Unleash the Capitalists

How disillusioning to read your editorial Trading Jobs (4/5). I expected something better from a Jesuit publication than this stale diatribe on American capitalism.

To begin, let me compliment you on your initial observation on the outsourcing phenomenon. The loss of jobs due to their exportation is indeed a very small portion of the overall job losses in the current economy. This is as true now as it has been throughout our history. Currently, because of its emotive power, outsourcing is a lightning rod for political purposes.

As to your further observations on the American economy and your prescriptions for job creation, let me offer the following counsel. It is not the role of any business to create jobs. It is the responsibility of a business to make a profit (within an overall defined legal, moral and ethical milieu) and to provide this profit to the investors in the form of a return on their capital. The creation of jobs is an ancillary byproduct of American business. Although employee considerations should be an important factor in any business decision, no businessperson who wishes to stay in business long can translate this consideration into a mandate for job creation or retention. To do so would be economic suicide.

As to your recommendation for the inclusion of labor unions, community organizations and environmentalists in the negotiating of trade agreements, we should remember that these are international economic compacts, not political ones. Unless you are a proponent of the creation of an international economic quagmire instead of a global marketplace, these institutions would be better served at the local and national negotiating tables.

Your two-part prescription for government intervention in the form of increases in new taxes on business and increases in public funding for job re-training are quite frankly tired, old and ill conceived. Historically, raising taxes and/or increasing the government bureaucracy are steps toward stagnation and decline, and have been no solution for any economic problem.

As for your proposed formula of improvements by the business community, they are similarly misguided. Contrary to your opinion, the unequivocal fact is that high-stakes gambling is not the economic function of options and derivatives. Risk-aversion, however, is. Risk-aversion is a fundamental economic principle. Corporate takeovers do generate enduring health for the companies involved, although not necessarily in their original form. Preoccupation with quarterly returns, although a factor in business decision making, is but one of many variables considered in making decisions on long-term investment.

In conclusion, let me concur with your observation that only the business community can bring major improvements in employment prospects. The purpose of these improvements, however, should not be, as you say, to rein in aggressive capitalism. Rather, they must be for the purpose of unleashing American capitalism. Only free markets can create jobs.

Michael McGreevy

Books
Lucy Lethbridge
Penelope Fitzgerald rsquo s family crops up often in her prose She alludes to her two Victorian grandfathers one the bishop of Manchester and the other of Lincoln to her uncle Monsignor Ronald Knox and to another uncle and aunt who spent their engagement in the 1890 rsquo s corresponding with
Editorials
The Editors
George W. Bush is a high-stakes gambler. When the going gets tough, he is inclined to up the ante. Whether it is tax cuts, the prescription drug benefit, bringing democracy to the Middle East or sending astronauts to Mars, he reaches for the sky. His endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharo
FaithFaith and Reason
Kevin O'Brien
“Students who understood very little of his lectures told me that they attended because they ‘felt better’ about themselves in his presence. ‘This is a professor to whom I can confess,’ one said.”
Angie O'Gorman
On my desk is a photograph of a large poster that had been crudely taped to the wall of a bakery in an Arab souk just inside the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem. The poster shows a Palestinian man crouching on the ground, his back against a cinderblock wall, his mouth contorted in a silen
Books
James T. Keane
When The Wall Street Journal announced last year that Bob Dylan had lifted lyrics in his most recent album from an obscure Japanese author it came as no surprise to generations of Dylan fans who had long recognized him as music rsquo s most prolific borrower When ldquo Blowin rsquo in the Wind r
The Word
Dianne Bergant
We seem to tire so easily of the ordinary in life Many of us are constantly looking for something new something exciting We want to be entertained by life and to have the latest of everything whether that means style electronic equipment or fame We are often taken in by the advertisements that
News
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Reactions Vary to Pope’s Comments on Feeding Although some see Pope John Paul II’s message at a recent Vatican conference as closing the book on the question of whether nutrition and hydration may be withdrawn from patients in a persistent vegetative state, others in U.S. Catholic health
Thomas Richstatter
It can be lonely living by oneself in a small town, as I do. But I can always go to Wal-Mart and know that I will be met at the door by a smiling employee who will greet me with “Welcome to Wal-Mart” and give me a shopping cart and a flier with today’s specials. If only I could be
Faith in Focus
Joseph Shimek
We knew it was coming. Months before the recent release of the report of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice on sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic clergy, my fellow seminarians and I were forewarned on two separate occasions that the findings would be disturbing. We were told tha
Books
George M. Anderson
Imagine this nightmare scenario On a beautiful day in Southern California you have just dropped off your children at school On your return just a block from your home a police car approaches and flashes its lights for you to stop When you do an officer handcuffs you and drives back to your ho
Of Many Things
John W. Donohue
St. Paul would not have been surprised by the clash of opinions aroused by Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ.” At the beginning of his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul alluded to the controversy he himself encountered when he proclaimed “Christ nailed to the
Ronald Hamel
Is the removal of a feeding tube that supplies nutrients and fluids, especially in patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), simply a means of killing a vulnerable persona form of euthanasia? Judging from some of the responses to the much-publicized Terri Schiavo case, it seems there are thos
Kenneth G. Davis
With the steady growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, Christian denominations have been competing as never before for the allegiance of Latinos. Now many Hispanic religious leaders have begun to ask an intriguing question: couldn’t we accomplish more for our people by collabo
Books
Thomas H. Stahel
You rsquo ll need an iron stomach and a leather bottom to get through these two investigative reports but if you want to know about sexual abuse in the church they are indispensable You will also have to put up with cute titles and chapter heads as well as an occasionally questionable judgment