Over the course of history, human welfare has transformed from an economy of gifts to an economy of commodities. In his new book, Sacred Economics, Charles Eisenstein explores how we can realign towards the humanity-based economy.
Over the course of history, human welfare has transformed from an economy of gifts to an economy of commodities. In his new book, Sacred Economics, Charles Eisenstein explores how we can realign towards the humanity-based economy.
Today’s global economic realities reveal deep fissures within mainstream economic theory. Could this be the swansong of global capitalism or the beginning of an even more aggressive phase of neo-classical economics?
This morning I was pulling poison ivy. It looked like I was up against the withering prospect of pulling more than a hundred individual plants. But I found that if I dug my gloved finger to the root and gently tugged, I could trace it through other roots and stems in my neglected garden, then fairly easily zip out whole tracts of the stuff. Without pulling a single individual plant, tugging up the root dislodged all the ones I could see and a lot that I hadn’t seen in the tangle of vegetation.
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This years’ World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, marks the start of the perennial capitalist meet-and-greet summit season.
The economic equivalent of the Oscars, the WEF is a time for the 0.1% to celebrate the achievements and successes of free-markets, and to discuss how to keep the crumbling ship from running ashore; it’s also a time to get in a few good runs on the slopes, deep tissue massages and a soothing hot tub session on the 99%’s dime.
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As Occupy gears up for the American Spring, our European counterparts will soon have one OWS victory to put in their cap. In France this past week, lawmakers put their backing behind a bill for a Robin Hood (Tobin) Tax. The tax, a fraction of a percent on all derivative, currency and securities transactions, will equate to billions of dollars for social programs (at a nominal cost to the markets) and will reign in the worst elements of speculative trading in Europe.
Read more ...Once a rising star in the industrialized world, Ireland now has the highest per capita national debt in the world – a debt to be paid by the people, not the 1% behind the crash.
Read more at Al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/01/2012119847466...
For the past eight months Chilean high school students have shut down classrooms, organized massive street protests and refused to go to school. Watch this Al Jazeera report about Latin America’s most unequal education system and what young people there are doing to fight back.
Chico Mendes, Ken Sarowiwa, Dian Fossey, Joan Root, P.D. Majhi and Amit Jethwa, are just a handful of the thousands of environmental activists murdered for defending the planet. As another year approaches, be reminded of the majesty of the earth that inspired them, and also let it inspire you.