Defending the Rich / Poor Gap - Michael Novak August 4, 2009

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/07/24/Michael_Novak_The_Ethics_of_Capitalism

Philosopher and theologian Michael Novak argues that the widening gap between rich and poor is both mutually beneficial and a mathematical inevitability. "The common good does not mean equality; the only way you can get equality is with tyranny," he says. "I think it's a great mistake to worry about the (rich-poor) gap."

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Theologian and author Michael Novak delivers a lecture on the ethics of capitalism from the Judeo-Christian perspective. - Chautauqua Institution

Michael Novak is an American Roman Catholic philosopher and diplomat. The author of some 25 books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982), which has also appeared in numerous translations. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace. He writes on capitalism, religion, and the politics of democratization. He served as U.S. chief ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and also as the ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Novak is currently George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Novak is a member of the Catholic Advisory Board for the Ave Maria Mutual Funds. Novak is also a board member of the Capital Research Center and the Center of the American Experiment. Novak was born in 1933 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He earned an M.A. in history and philosophy of religion from Harvard University in 1966, a Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus (a degree in theology), from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1958, and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and English (Summa Cum Laude) from Stonehill College in 1956.