Our Economic Models Are All Wrong

Max-Neef explains that “Greed is the dominant value today in the world and as long as that persists, we’re done!”  But he doesn’t just mean done economically, he means done as a species.

Rushing to my job in a highrise office building in the San Francisco financial district one morning in 1992, I realized that something was very wrong.  I realized that what all the concrete and steel that susrrounded me represented, I no longer wanted to be a part of.  I no longer wanted to struggle to pay high rent for a small studio apartment.  At the time, I was working two jobs and had little to show for it, except a little savings that I could easily deplete in just one month of day to day living.  With only one full day off to perform all the mundane tasks of personal and household maintenance, I hardly had a life.  I wondered, what was the point my daily routine? I realized that there were a relatively small handful of people who were contolling the world economy that dictated how everyone else in the world lived.  And they were doing so at the expense of a large part of humanity and the environment.  There is more respect for money than any other single component of life.  Finance has become the idol of worship ahead of all else.

I realize that my life is my personal responsibility and am not shifting blame here. I know there's noone coming to save me. Living to maintain even a modest lifestyle is hard work.  But, what does it matter if the world is falling apart around you?  The basic components of life are being slowly eaten away in the name of profit.  After reading the article ‘Dramatically Poisonous’ Economy Heading to "‘Catastrophic’ Collapse, Says Acclaimed Economist," I was reminded why I came to the conclusions that I did on that foggy, fall San Francisco morning.  That was the day I realized that life had little meaning for not only me but also a growing number of people. Life is not just about the pursuit of money.  We must shift our thinking and utlimately our ways of life in order to achieve personal fulfillment.  Most importantly I realized that unless we make this conscious effort then literally, there will be very little to live for. We really have no other choice.  You can read the full article here