http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/01/31/nothing-new-under-the-sun/ Because the earth can't afford our lifestyle Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:23:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/01/31/nothing-new-under-the-sun/#comment-4747 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:49:33 +0000 http://makewealthhistory.wordpress.com/?p=188#comment-4747 [...] Hodgkinson in the editorial to Idler 36 (via makewealthhistory.org) Share this on del.icio.usDigg this!Post this on DiigoShare this on RedditStumble upon something [...]

]]> http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/01/31/nothing-new-under-the-sun/#comment-2144 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:18:46 +0000 http://makewealthhistory.wordpress.com/?p=188#comment-2144 [...] columnist for the Ecologist magazine, and the only mainstream writer I know to have used the phrase make wealth history. To sum up his philosophy, the world would be a better place if we all did [...]

]]> http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/01/31/nothing-new-under-the-sun/#comment-904 Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:34:19 +0000 http://makewealthhistory.wordpress.com/?p=188#comment-904 Yes, someone has researched this. I have a book called, very simply ‘How rich countries got rich and why poor countries stay poor’ by an economist called Erik Reinert. His basic theory is that it is all down to our institutions – that we have developed banks and regulatory bodies over decades of wrangling, while African countries have just been handed a model and told to implement it. Oliver James, a psychologist, has also written extensively about the social effects of consumerism, although he focuses on the English speaking world.

]]> http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/01/31/nothing-new-under-the-sun/#comment-900 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:53:16 +0000 http://makewealthhistory.wordpress.com/?p=188#comment-900 I think one of the most serious aspects of the money economy globally is the way that we in the West have precipitated certain other cultures into it over such a short period of time. In our own society we have had centuries to move slowly from a barter and ‘gift’ economy into a consumer model, but we expect others to accommodate themselves to us and our monetary habits in a matter of a few years, or decades at the most. The disruption this causes, in psychological as well as social and economic terms, is catastrophic. I witnessed it myself in some of the small country towns along the east coast of Madagascar. Has anyone researched and written about this? If so I would be interested in reading about it.

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