Harry,
I realize that the ideas of a great many authors are summarized in the talk by Brouillet. Let me suggest one for you to focus on. Marilyn Waring's research on the history of the economic indicators: GNP and GDP is very carefully described in her book "If Women Counted : A New Feminist Economics". The film mentioned below provides a good overview. Given that you are a scholar, I think you should read the book and provide us a critcal review. > >>In the film, Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global > >>Economics, Marilyn discovers the origins of the U.N. Systems of National > >>Accounts, a system imposed upon every country that joins the U.N. and > >>hopes to get a loan from the World Bank or the International Monetary > >>Fund. The system was based upon a pamphlet by John Maynard Keynes and > >>Richard Stone entitled "The British System of National Accounts and How > >>to Pay for the War." This system enables the global elites to finance > >>their militaries. Indeed it is in the economic interest of the major > >>powers, who earn so much from their arms deals, that there is always a > >>war going on somewhere. The system does not recognize the value of peace, > >>an intact ecosystem, or the unpaid labor of women. Monetary transactions > >>are measured and deemed of the greatest importance, no matter how > >>devastating their effects are. It does not see anything of unquantifiable > >>value -- life, people, the Earth; it only sees that which it measures -- > >>money. The forests, the lungs of our planet, our worthless according to > >>this system, unless they are chopped down and sold as timber. > >>By elevating money to the point where everything else may be sacrificed > >>to obtain it, by confusing money with real wealth, our civilization is > >>rushing to destroy itself. Toynbee chronicles the rise and fall of > >>civilizations, one feature that they have in common is the extreme > >>concentration of wealth and power, and ecological collapse. The rich have > >>never been richer nor the poor poorer. Agribusiness has meant a loss of > >>90% of the edible plant species since the turn of the century; it rivals > >>the military as far as the devastation that it has wreaked upon all > >>arable lands. Despite the obvious needs of the vast majority of humanity, > >>money is being siphoned from the poor to the rich. Through the IMF and > >>the World Bank, the money continues to flow to the wealthy countries, in > >>1994 net payments to the US from "developing" countries reached $2 > >>billion. The Bretton Woods Institutions force countries to open > >>themselves to foreign investment, devalue their currencies, switch from > >>growing food for local consumption to growing export crops. These > >>policies are as devastating as war and just as deadly. If the children > >>who starve quietly in their homes as a result of World Bank policies were > >>taken out into their village squares or city parks and shot, the world > >>would be horrified. But the catastrophic suffering remains invisible to > >>those who focus their attention on making money, and feel no connection > >>to people outside of their class and culture. As cancer, unchecked > >>consumes its host; the world's parasites continue to feast upon the world > >>oblivious to the suffering of the bulk of humanity and the stresses on > >>our mutual life support system, the planet. Without water, food, > >>friendship, love, health, all the money, gold, toys become worthless baubles. > >>The old system has relied upon military force and control to maintain the > >>wealth and privilege of the ruling elite. Weapons, misinformation, and > >>money are the tools this system has relied upon. By beating the drum and > >>blaming the world's ills on overpopulation, it subtly encourages the idea > >>that masses of people are expendable, institutionally it says that the > >>lives in industrialized nations are worth more than those in "developing" > >>nations and within wealthy countries the rich are idolized and society's > >>ills blamed on the poor. Wherever we can, we must challenge military > >>expenditures, expanding "security and prison systems." We must nurture > >>all efforts towards non-violent conflict resolution. We need to > >>institutionalize a global minimum wage and a maximum wage. We should > >>respect and honor people for their integrity, character, wisdom and gifts > >>to society, as opposed to the amount of wealth they can extract from > >>society. Happy reading Brian McAndrews
