It has often been hard to understand the breadth and complexity of the economic crisis of today. I've read several magazines and books to try to understand the different perspectives. I like comparing the editorials of more moderate magazines like Barron's or the Economist with the more leftist magazines like Z Magazine. Though there are areas of deep disagreement, there is a surprising consensus among more mainstream and progressive sources on the need for economic stimulus and the need for bank reforms. I made a cartoon in the March 25, 2009 issue of the Tri-City Voice on the reliance of the U.S. economy to China financing our debt.

Over the past few years, newspapers have been declining in circulation across the nation. As more people get the news on the internet, many newspapers have struggled to adjust to the changing times and find new ways of surviving in these tough economic times. All newspapers now have websites that provide news information and articles from its writers. Some papers have followed the example of the Christian Science Monitor, which will switch from daily to weekly circulation in April to adjust to the diminished readership. In my area, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News have cut staff to try to stay economically viable.

Thomas Bokenkotter wrote in his book Church and Revolution: Catholics in the Struggle for Democracy and Social Justice:

"This book deals with an interesting historical question: How did the Catholic Church - which, on the morrow of the French Revolution, was one of the most conservative and even reactionary of the world powers- become, by the mid-twentieth century, a very progressive force in world affairs? As the well-known journalist Murray Kempton said in 1996, the Catholic Church is today the leading defender of human rights in the world. In its famous document "The Church in the Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes), the Second Vatican Council ranged over the whole gamut of contemporary social issues and put itself on record as totally committed to the struggle for greater social justice in every sector of human life. The council transformed the Church into a principled supporter of the institutions, practices, and principles of the free society."

Bokenkotter noted that the Catholic Church, along with other Christian churches, has led in the fight to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and to battle for a more equitable system for the poor people of the world. The author traces this focus by the Catholic Church on Vatican II, but I believe that the Church's involvement in promoting social change can be found much earlier, in the papal encyclicals starting with Pope Leo XIIIs Rerum Novarum. Since the time of Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclicals have been an inspiration for Catholics to engage in movements of social change.