Toward a Model of Sustainable Capitalism

Hello and Welcome!

"Well, a find fix you've gotten us into, Ollie!" You have to be of a certain age to recognize that line, I realize, but with the 'Net, I figure obscure references are no longer that obscure. That being said, this is an effort to consider the situation the world finds itself in, yet again; for those of us so inclined to try to think our way out of it, as opposed to the usual political bludgeoning applied to problem solving.

I am an amateur student of history to be sure, but still, better read than most of my contemporaries in the history of our species and its assault upon Earth some 250,000 year ago. To my mind, prior to that, we were still of doubtful use to Nature and teetered upon the edge of extinction. But, for a myriad of reasons, we lucked out. 10,000 years ago we figured out agriculture fed us better than hunting and gathering. If we think about this in relation to the age of our world (no, not 6,000 years, sorry), we've been about this business of culture for a very short time.

In future posts I hope to explore the fundamentals of human economy, that is, the methods by which we can now exchange goods, services, knowledge and art on a global basis. The historic foundations of Western-style Capitalism have been allowed to evolve with only sporadic and disorganized, as well as short-sighted, methods of organization. In this century, it is necessary for us to incorporate our human ways of feeding, housing and sustaining ourselves with the environmental and political realities of the age. It should be obvious to anyone reasonably well-informed that our present lives are unsustainable in the long-run, and despite the famous quotation of Keynes, the long-run does matter to our children and grandchildren. The world, or that portion of it with Internet access anyway, is invited to join me on this exploration into a New World of sustainable, cooperative, conscious economic activities that benefit the human community as a whole, as well as rewarding the individual for their talent, labor and creativity. Think of this as a voyage into the unknown, but knowable, future.

Welcome aboard!