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As we tour the 400 year history of capitalism through its various
phases of development, financial system instability is always there
lurking in the shadows. The historical record attests that the
processes of aggregating capital for real investment are
inescapably vulnerable to risk, manic speculation, unserviceable
debt, and crises; and with each episode of instability, a trail of
devastation follows. Economic historians such as Hyman Minsky,
Charles Kindleberger and others have studied this history and have
exposed certain boom-bust patterns that have a way of stubbornly
repeating themselves. This book posits that the large-scale
financial crises that the world has experienced over the last 30
years are more or less the latest segments in this narrative, but
with some distinct characteristics. In the period spanning the
stock market crash of 1987 to the banking crisis of 2008 and its
aftermath - the Greenspan Era - there were key institutional and
ideological developments rooted in contemporary neoliberalism that
have reshaped the historic rise-and-fall patterns to become more
severe and widespread. In this important volume, Magnuson suggests
the next episode will be a massive financial cyclone that will send
us all tumbling toward a perilous future.
This book defends and articulates an "Engaged Buddhist" approach to
economics as a response to the destructive effects of global
capitalism. The author posits that Buddhist understandings of the
distortions of greed, aversion, and ignorance can be read to apply
not only to mental states but also to socio-political ones, and
that such a reading suggests rational responses to current social
and environmental challenges. The book proposes that we engage both
"inner and outer" modes of transformation through which to free
ourselves from our current human-made, dysfunctional systems: the
former, by examining the workings of our own minds, the latter by
criticizing and reforming our economic systems. Since traditional
Buddhism provides few sources to build a Buddhist economic vision,
this work brings together Buddhist notions of skillful practice,
John Dewey's pragmatic principles for social provisioning, and
institutional economics. The author provides two case studies for
experiments in Buddhist-based socioeconomic policies, Thailand and
Bhutan. Of special interest is the implied parallel between
worldviews emerging from modern socially-engaged Buddhism and
Dewey's notion of a human existential drive to shape the world in
collectively beneficial ways.
Despite our fitful attempts over decades at reform, the global
financial system seems caught in cycles of boom and bust,
instability, and scandal. In this timely new book, Joel Magnuson
builds on the classic works of E. F. Schumacher and other kindred
spirits to provide a Buddhist economics perspective on this
recurring pattern, and offers new possibilities for real change.
The book centers on the belief that greed, aggression, and delusion
(Buddhism's "three poisons") are embedded within our financial
institutions and that they perpetuate the continued widespread
attachment to endless economic growth and financial accumulation
that are responsible for social and ecological malaise. Arguing
that mainstream economics fails to adequately address this cycle,
Magnuson presents a new framework of Buddhist economics, helping
readers gain a deeper understanding of current economic problems
and offering a course toward genuine wellbeing.
Joel Magnuson's visionary insights into the decline of the Oil Age
and life afterward combine sobering warnings with genuine hope. The
facts are hard: global oil deposits will soon peak if they haven't
already and the violent race to secure what's left has already
begun. Meanwhile, our culture of consumption continues its heedless
dependence on this and other scarce and fast-disappearing resources
including other fossil fuels, water, topsoil, and basic metals. The
consequences won't just be expensive gasoline. The very nature of
life as we've come to know it will change and Magnuson explains how
compounding factors like global warming, skyrocketing debt, and
ill-prepared governments stand to turn this inevitable change into
a needless catastrophe. But the hope is real: individuals and
communities around the world have already begun taking action to
shift away from consumer culture. Drawing on the visionary work of
E.F. Schumacher, John Ruskin, and other pioneering thinkers,
Magnuson argues that mindful and concerted action can shape the
future. With an emphasis on current transitional projects like B
Corporations and LETS projects, he shows that the true great
transformation is already underway and it's up to us to continue
it. With a foreword by Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder and director
of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC).
From personal finance and consumer spending to ballooning
national expenditures on warfare and social welfare, debt is
fundamental to the dynamics of global capitalism. The contributors
to this volume explore the concept of indebtedness in its various
senses and from a wide range of perspectives. They observe that
many views of ethics, citizenship, and governance are based on a
conception of debts owed by one individual to others; that artistic
and literary creativity involves the artist s dialogue with the
works of the past; and that the specter of catastrophic climate
change has underscored the debt those living in the present owe to
future generations."
From personal finance and consumer spending to ballooning
national expenditures on warfare and social welfare, debt is
fundamental to the dynamics of global capitalism. The contributors
to this volume explore the concept of indebtedness in its various
senses and from a wide range of perspectives. They observe that
many views of ethics, citizenship, and governance are based on a
conception of debts owed by one individual to others; that artistic
and literary creativity involves the artist s dialogue with the
works of the past; and that the specter of catastrophic climate
change has underscored the debt those living in the present owe to
future generations."
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