If we don't begin to address economic issues and the methodology of economic behavior than we won't have the resources to further social and political change... I think it is critical that we develop long-term, sustainable (both in the context of our environment and finance) business practices and objectives... We need to end the financial gambling practices, based on derivatives, that got us into this mess and redirect finance so that it invests in productive ends rather than self-aggrandizement. We need to do this, so financial resources are used to build businesses, not wager on them or take them apart. We need to invest money to sow the fields for a future harvest, not sell the land in the anticipation of a speculative success. Derivative finance provides no economic benefit to anyone, except the gambling beneficiary. Although the derivatives practice is touted as a means of hedging (betting) against unpredictable circumstances, isn’t that what insurance is traditionally for; to redistribute chance and occurrence so that it has a broader or wider spectrum of stability? The more horizontally an object is spread or distributed the less likely it is to topple.
Right now, the only publicly-stated economic objective in Western countries is to downsize our economic system; that is to reduce our personal debt and reduce the size of the mismanaged corporations (such as GM or Chrysler) and most financial institutions. Both efforts are laudable in their long-term goals but also will generate a lot of hardship as these Western economies have to continue to shrink in order to accommodate these goals. It's not like the wealthy are going to want to share the pie, so the rest of us are going to have to fight for a smaller piece of what we already have.
That cannot have a happy ending - if the only direction we are thinking of is down...
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