"“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” So begins a significant new report by the New Economics Foundation in the U.K., quoting economist Kenneth Boulding. “The most pressing problem facing humanity now,” says the report, The Great Transition, “is how to share scarce planetary resources in ways that are just, sustainable and support the well-being of us all.
The “Great Transition” is meant to echo the phrase used by Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, the title of Polanyi’s important 1944 book describing the shift from the world of the commons to that of the total market order. Polanyi argued that the coming of the market order swept aside all sorts of social arrangements that had prevailed for millennia of human history: the role of family, kinship, community and religion, the importance of moral order and other non-market principles.
Polanyi is a great friend of the commons because he sought to find a new middle ground between the market and the commons, and between the individual and the community. He intimately plotted the ascendance of the market realm and its eclipse of the commons; now the Great Transition seeks to develop decentralized, effective means to reverse the Great Transformation, and re-inscribe the market into a set of coherent and constructive social relationships...
The Great Redistribution proposes a redistribution of both income and wealth as a way to create value. Among the ideas: the creation of Citizens’ Endowments of up to £25,000 for all people on reaching the age of 21 to enable them to invest in their future, as well as Community Endowments to provide commonly owned assets to invest in our local neighborhoods. Both would be funded by a proposed increase in inheritance tax on all estates to 67%.
The Great Rebalancing proposes a revamping of market structures so that “prices reflect true social and environmental costs and benefits” and so that the market sphere is “rebalanced alongside the public sphere and the ‘core economy’ – our ability to care, teach, learn, empathise, protest and the social networks these capacities create.”
The Great Localisation chapter argues for “an expanded concept of ‘subsidiarity’ – the idea that decisions are best taken at as local a scale as possible.” This means a devolution of power from the center to the edges, and a redefinition of market efficiency to encompass local, social and ecological impacts.."
to read David Bollier's article published on: www.onthecommons.org Aug 31, 2010, click on
http://www.onthecommons.org/great-transition-0
Comments
This fits in pretty well with proposals by Korten, Hedges and others.... and Rhizome Communities. as a means for combating economic/enviromental collapse....and restoring democratic functioning.
While difficult because of the power structures in place, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility. A merging of environment/economic collapse will trigger change. What that change will look like will pretty much depends on the thought processs going on at the time.
Sometimes a crises will trigger change for the better...the French Revolution and an ultimate Democratic Republic...or for the worse...Hitler..
Existing power structures always resist change of the magnitude Boller suggests....and have the power of the state behind them. They often prefer what doesn't work for the majority over what does/would work for the majority...
Globalization is just one example of that. De-regulation leading to the financial meltdown was another.. Trickle down theory and a broke consumer economy iwith 8,000 families a day being evicted from foreclosed homes is another.
Redistribution of excessive income has been a no no ever since the dismantling of the New Deal got underway..We now have the consequences of that. A few having the clout to buy legislators...even presidencies....and a nation that for the majority, is in rapid economic, social, and environmental decline..
Much of what Boller says makes sense. Just because it makes sense doesn't mean it will automatically be implimented. It would step on some very big toes who have the power to say "no".. We call them "special interests"....though what makes them so "special" has never been satisfactorily explained to me..
Retired Monk - "Ideology is a disease"
Having big plans for change leave a lot of room for mistakes.It`s best to go a little at a time.Health care is one example,go slow give people time to adjust. And catch mistakes before they get to big.Communication is "key" io change. Obama and corrupt media has been doing a bad job of this,we know why. Special interests don`t want the government looking to good.
Probably, we should have had a quick change in Health Care Reform. A 10 page Bill like Canada's rather than one the size of a telephone book to cover special interest requirements. It will take some doing to rip it up and get cheaper single-payer with no deductions.
Global warming shouldn't wait. The planet will already rise 2 degrees by what's already been set into motion if we stop all emissions tomorrow . 3-4 degrees is the critical threshhold..
Preventing economic/environmental collapse requires quick change...not slow incremental change.
However, as Hedges notes, "We have experienced a slow-moving coup. It's accomplished. They [corporations/financiers] won. We lost."
While we were busily debating who can marry who...democratic institutions were subverted and a Corporate State established within their framework. It's been sanctified by the Supreme Court.
A Corporate State isn't open to change. Until that's addressed, every thing else is pretty irrelevant. The structures themselves are contrary to solving the critical isssues of the day. Their interests and viable solutions to economic/environmental problems are diametrically opposed..
We're facing the merging of economic and enviromental collapse....slow, incremental change won't prevent that. The Corporate State won't prevent that.
They won. We lost. Until that's addressed, no change for the better will occur.. Critical problems coming to a head won't be solved. The only solution open to a Corporate State when faced with collapse and mass destitution is repression and force to maintain the status quo.. Blunt...and that's how it is.
Bush's Third Term is coming along as expected. Regardless of the rhethoric, Bushs policies are being maintained and expanded upon. Bush's Head of the Fed is Obama's Head of the Fed, etc. Outsourcing and the dismantling of U.S. economic infrastructure remains a primary policy. Giant Cororations profit enormously from that....and the nation's people will be driven into poverty. as noted by a Father of Economics, Ricardo, over a century ago..
Moral Courage in a Time of Crises: Hedges video:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9217110#utm_campaigne=synclickback&source=http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_on_moral_courage_20100901/&medium=9217110
Retired Monk - "Ideology is a disease"