Slow Capitalism

Yesterday, I read Al Gore’s Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalism (pdf), and made a few comments. After reflecting a day, I have a more sweeping response: Gore’s focus — and that of his co-author, David Blood — is far too focused on the corporate boardroom, the compensation of CEOs, and the way that the stock market functions. Those points of emphasis are perhaps reasonable considering their source — Gore and Blood are partners in an investment group — but their focus is too narrow, and the term ‘sustainable capitalism’ is too wonkish to catch on, or even channel the attention of average people.

‘Sustainable Capitalism’ is a term dreamed up by enlightened and benign members of the 1%: an admonition by the members of the elite to the elite, saying in effect that they should to play more fairly. But it’s not broadly based enough for the 99%, who demand a system rooted in justice, not just a suggestion that the overloads agree to crush us a bit less.

What we need is ‘slow capitalism’. A system that rewards all for their work and investments, but which is founded on the full accounting of costs in the world. Businesses cannot be allowed to make a huge profit by moving operations to an unregulated corner of the world where there are no environmental regulations, and spewing poisons into the air and ocean. Investors cannot be allowed to make money on pointless financial transactions that add no value, but simply bleed money from a broken system. And the time horizon of our considerations must be reckoned in decades, not in quarters or microseconds.

Like slow food — which is not really about having leisurely meals, but is all about our obligate connection to the food chain and the earth that sustains it — we need slow capitalism: a world order based on our obligate connections to each other, based on the premise that economic forces should not be used to do harm, but to benefit us all.

13 notes

sykelifeisawesome reblogged this from underpaidgenius
deepthinking liked this
feigned-intuition liked this
futuresagency reblogged this from underpaidgenius and added:

Nice piece by TFA Curator Stowe Boyd yesterday....head with his comments
futuristgerd reblogged this from underpaidgenius and added:

Nice piece by Stowe Boyd yesterday....head with his comments
poopquotes liked this
stepwise said: We need to bring back a bit of friction to the system. I like and agree with your analysis.
stepwise liked this
earlybirdwords liked this
climateadaptation said: we know that a diverse ag system is more resilient than a monoculture. same holds for culture, environment, and all the -isms. gore contributes to the diversity of solutions needed under the susty rubric…
unholystuff liked this
underpaidgenius posted this