Problems with The Discipline of Economics

"Economics text-books create the mindsets, mindsets create the world. I think economics has mistreated this world. It got us into a lot of troubles and many human tragedies. For one thing seeds of poverty are planted firmly in the pages of economics text-books."     Mohammed Yunus

James Carville, advisor to Bill Clinton once told him, "It's The Economy, Stupid". What a tragedy that in a world of hungry people, this could summarse of the concerns of any electorate, never mind one as overmonied and spiritually undernourished as that of the USA.

Capitalism is showing itself unable to adapt to the world's changing circumstances, and is a built on a money system which promotes strife and competition. The 'invisible hand' of the market is forcing people and companies to abandon all principles save one:- maximising their income. However, there is nothing God given about markets; we do not need to accept them, and where other forms of decision making better serve the ends of all Life on this planet, we should not. Money itself is, of course, ultimately just a fiction, with no life of its own, no preferences, no personality. It neither knows nor cares who is concerned about it. Rampant privatisation of the commons makes it increasingly hard to ignore it, but technology is changing our world faster still. Old tactics of suppressing information or playing one group of against another are of little use in the modern, globalised information age. A worldwide grassroots pressure for social justice is building, especially amongst the young, resentful at the moral and social vacuum of consumerism built for them by the previous generation. A new generation is awakening, alive to the real problems of an ecosystem very badly damaged in a vain pursuit of the imaginary numbers associated with the modern money system.

Do we want an economic system built around numbers, not people, which equates complete rationality with complete selfishness? What happens to society if we punish people who think altruistically, but reward those who perpetuate social cycles of fear and scarcity? These questions are being asked by increasing numbers of people, silently preparing themselves for a big change.
If money is not that important, what is?... In future years, we hope the answer will be obvious: "Life itself, Stupid".