Ray: The problem is still the design of large generic systems that benefit the entire planet and not just a small group. What's so hard about that?
Me: It's been tried, Ray, many, many times, but it just doesn't seem to happen. For some reason, enlightened ideas always seem to lead to crumbling utopias. The idealism of Marx, Engels et. al. somehow led to the brutality of Stalinist Russia and, more recently, to the state capitalism of China. Adam Smith, the Classical Economists, the Austrians and the Chicago School were brilliant economic thinkers, but their thought has been used, perverted perhaps, to support a system in which the few are very rich and the many are mired in poverty and degradation. International agencies established for the greater good of all humanity -- the UN, the IMF, the World Bank, etc. -- are made to serve particular interests or are shoved into corners from which they are unable to serve anybody with any effect. I don't know what can be done about it. Religion perhaps, though not the kind that makes people throw their hands in the air, shout halleluiah and ask some grand pseudo-being to help them keep doing what they're doing, but the kind that builds a morality that brings people together and tells them that they must not cheat their fellow-man or use him to boost their own advantages. Could it happen? Will it? I'm a pessimist, but I won't abandon hope. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Harrell To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' ; [email protected] Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 11:19 AM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Where it's at. What is it about economists that they can ignore the basic system of capitalism that separates wealth to small groups at the expense of the larger group? What is happening now is the normal thing for capitalism. What capitalism needs is balance by other domains of society to curb it's immorality. When capitalism buys the society or kills the intellect of the society through mere sensual object relations and the refusal to teach the young then the society withers. The problem is still the design of large generic systems that benefit the entire planet and not just a small group. What's so hard about that? REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:22 AM To: [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] Where it's at. For a thorough posting on the state of the American economy and the causes of the present crisis, look at: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1 Is it accurate? I don't know, but it is very interesting. Ed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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