Tuesday, December 18, 2007

We need a fundamental reinvention of economics and its guiding indicators

Re: The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein by Rich on Mon 10 Dec 2007 08:40 PM PST Profile Permanent Link
well trickle down was just a slogan, that worked for a while until 20 years later when we see the disparity between CEO and line Worker is now 400 fold, rather than 20 fold!
But, were they thinking of the great social good, or the self-interest of an economic elite, I'd say the later. Friedmanism worked in Chile for awhile, but there is a Socialist back in power, as in most of South America, and I believe this is one of the most promising new economic counters to Neo-Liberalist Globalization, and the acceleration of the gap between the wealthiest and all the rest.
But sure, the neo-conservative Hayek, Friedman, and to an extent the neo-liberalist economist Jeffery Sachs thought they were doing great things when imposing shock therapy on Chile, Bolivia, Russia, and so did Deng in Tiananmen Square which began China's Shock Therapy China. Of course we all know about the well intention neo-cons Chaney, Rumsfield Wolfawitz, and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqs who have died and millions who are homeless. But shock therapy in theory and practice has real consequences for human beings.
Yes, the Chicago Boys did control the scourge of inflation, but they are ideologically driven Nerds. They respect calculations, modeling of populations on the economic man. They were like the engineers in early systems modeling platforms, disconnected observers playing with formulas and feedback loops with no requirement to empathize with the populations under control. Their position like the omniscient observers in the control rooms of cybernetic laboratories. When you are taking on the role of Cosmic Agent initiating vast economic turbulance and throwing millions out of work it is easy to loose touch with the lives of others. Your own salary like those of CEOs of multinationals increasing with the amount of workers you can downsize.
by ronjon on Tue 11 Dec 2007 09:12 AM PST Profile Permanent Link
I've just begun reading Riane Eisler's new book: The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics. It seems obvious to me that we need a fundamental reinvention of economics and its guiding indicators. Here's a short video (7 minutes) of Riane describing her book: And here's another interesting link: www.globalonenessproject.org/ ~ ronjon

No comments:

Post a Comment