In an interesting article published in 1997, author David Korten writes:
What is this madness? The economy is booming. The stock market is setting new records. The US is again heralded as the world’s most competitive economy. We are assured that we are richer than ever before and getting richer by the day.
Yet we are also told there is no longer enough money to provide an adequate education for our children, health care and safety nets for the poor, protection for the environment, parks, a living wage for working people, public funding for the arts and public radio, or adequate pensions for the elderly. According to the official wisdom, even though richer, we can no longer afford what we once took for granted. How is this possible? What’s gone wrong?
A quick hint. The problem most definitely is not a lack of money. The world is awash in it. The world’s 450 billionaires alone have combined financial assets greater than the combined annual incomes of half of humanity.
The problem is this: a predatory global financial system, driven by the single imperative of making ever more money for those who already have lots of it, is rapidly depleting the real capital the human, social, natural, and even physical capital on which our well-being depends.
This article seems just as wise in 2001 as it did in 1997. Take a look…
Timothy