We humans live by stories, says David Korten, and the stories that now govern our society set us on a path to certain self-destruction. In this profound new book, Korten shares the results of his search for a story that reflects the fullness of human knowledge and understanding and provides a guide to action adequate to the needs of our time. Korten calls our current story Sacred Money and Markets. Money, it tells us, is the measure of all worth and the source of all happiness. Earth is simply a source of raw materials. Inequality and environmental destruction are unfortunate but unavoidable. Although many recognize that this story promotes bad ethics, bad science, and bad economics, it will remain our guiding story until replaced by one that aligns with our deepest understanding of the universe and our relationship to it. To guide our path to a viable human future, Korten offers a Sacred Life and Living Earth story grounded in a cosmology that affirms we are living beings born of a living Earth itself born of a living universe. Our health and well-being depend on an economy that works in partnership with the processes by which Earth's community of life maintains the conditions of its own existence - and ours. Offering a hopeful vision, Korten lays out the transformative impact adopting this story will have on every aspect of human life and society.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
A Choice for Life
Prologue: A Personal Journey
Introduction: Capitalism and the Suicide Economy
PART I: COWBOYS IN A SPACESHIP
1. From Hope to Crisis
2. End of the Open Frontier
3. The Growth Illusion
PART II: CONTEST FOR SOVEREIGNTY
4. Rise of Corporate Power in America
5. Assault of the Corporate Libertarians
6. The Decline of Democratic Pluralism
7. Illusions of the Cloud Minders
PART III: CORPORATE COLONIALISM
8. Dreaming of Global Empires
9. Building Elite Consensus
10. Buying Out Democracy
11. Marketing the World
12. Adjusting the Poor
13. Guaranteeing Corporate Rights
PART IV: A ROGUE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
14. The Money Game
15. Predatory Finance
16. Corporate Cannibalism
17. Managed Competition
PART V: NO PLACE FOR PEOPLE
18. Race to the Bottom
19. The End of Inefficiency
20. People with No Place
PART VI: TO RECLAIM OUR POWER
21. The Ecological Revolution
22. Economies Are for Living
23. An Awakened Civil Society
24. Agenda for Democracy
Conclusion: A Living Economy for Living Earth
Epilogue: Our Need for Meaning
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
