Pete: > The best we can hope for is that the slide will be ridden with dignity, > grace, tolerance and cooperation. Not an unreasonable expectation, as this > situation will be an opportunity for people to bring forward all their > best > qualities to meet the challenges ahead.
Very much depends on what broader belief system we are part of. Currently, among nations with real power, capitalism is both the dominant economic system and the dominant ideology. The dominant drivers of behaviour within capitalism are greed and the need for control -- witness Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. In medieval Europe, Catholic Christianity drove behaviour, and lay groups such as the Beghards and Beguines formed to sacrifice themselves in order to help the poor. Monastic groups were of course also formed around the alleviation of poverty, though things didn't always work out as intended. The Franciscans, for example, were founded on the poverty and self-sacrifice of St. Francis of Assisi. They were very poor initially, but it wasn't long before they became one of the wealthiest orders of the times. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Cordell" <[email protected]> To: "'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 11:10 PM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Many of the jobs lost duringthe recessionarenotcoming back > Agree and re: the last para, amen. > > Arthur > > > > I suggest that we will be getting a "steady state" or probably more > accurately declining state world soon enough whether anyone likes it or > not. > Oil production has certainly peaked, barring absurd and ill advised heroic > efforts, and the knock on effects will mean all economic activity must > start > to constrict very soon. Prices will rise as the advancing societies of the > developing world try to buy in to the remaining energy supplies for their > nascent mobile infrastructures - China may have the sobering experience of > an automobile culture which rises, flourishes, and is strangled, all > within > ten years. We will all be learning in this decade how cheap food was > dependent on cheap oil for both machinery and fertilizer. Universal > austerity will be visited upon us for our past sins of profligacy. It is > probable that the current level of affluence will not be seen again for > perhaps two centuries, in a very different world. > > The best we can hope for is that the slide will be ridden with dignity, > grace, tolerance and cooperation. Not an unreasonable expectation, as this > situation will be an opportunity for people to bring forward all their > best > qualities to meet the challenges ahead. > > -Pete > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
