Agenda for a New Economy (Electronic book text)

A Report of the New Economy Working GroupBy the author of the bestselling classic When Corporations Rule the WorldNew edition includes an analysis of events since the election of Barack Obama and a more detailed vision of the alternative to the Wall Street economyAwarded the Silver Medal in Current Events category of the 2011 Independent Publisher Book AwardsNearly two years after the economic meltdown joblessness and foreclosures are still endemic, Wall Street executives are once again getting massive bonuses, and there doesnt seem to be the will in Washington to make desperately needed fundamental changes to the economy. Change will have to come from below. This second edition of Agenda for a New Economy is the handbook for that revolution.The root of the problem remains what it was in 2008: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating phantom wealthmere numbers on paper--without producing anything of real value, and without any though of the social consequences. Wall Street operates as a criminal syndicate engaged in financial scams and extortion rackets that impose unbearable costs on society while serving no beneficial function not better met in other ways he writes. In a new chapter, Korten looks at how events since September 2008 have simply proven that the predatory Wall Street leopard cannot change its spots.In this revised and updated edition Korten has fleshed out his vision of the alternative to the corporate Wall Street economy: a Main Street economy based on locally owned, community oriented living enterprises whose success is measured as much by their positive impact on people and the environment as by their positive balance sheet. We will lose nothing in the process, because, as Korten ably demonstrates, the supposed services Wall Street offers are simply a con game. And, having reluctantly given up on the possibility of any substantial change from the top, Korten now offers more in-depth advice on how to mount a grassroots campaign to bring about an economy based on shared prosperity, ecological stewardship, and citizen democracy.