He touches on what we worship and how that is destroying society.  He touches on many of the consequences of globalization including mass migration from rural areas to urban slums, loss of high quality jobs across the globe and a disconnect between the best interests of society vs. what is in the best interest of multi-national corporations.  He identifies who wins and who loses.  Multi-national corporations win.  The rich oligarchs in third world countries win as they receive the investment money coming into their countries.  The average worker in developed countries lose jobs.  The poor in third world countries are destabilized, forced to urban slums and put to work at starvation wages.  Goldsmith suggests that we should change our focus of worship and build economies that serve people.

The fact that the guy made billions in his lifetime establishes some credibility with me.  After listening to this interview, I can see why he was so successful.  He’s a sharp guy.

Quotes from his book, “The Trap”

“We have convinced ourselves that there exists only one valid economic and social model: our own. By attempting to impose it universally, we have exported to almost every corner of the world our diseases: crime, drugs, alcoholism, family breakdown, civil disorder in urban slums, accelerated abuse of the environment and all the other problems that we experience daily.”

“The economy is a tool to serve us. It is not a demi-god to be served by society.”

“Those of us who believe in free enterprise must understand that although in many nations and in many ways our beliefs remain eminently valid, on their own they are not sufficient. They must be integrated into the overriding imperatives of the biosphere as well as of human societies. Market forces must be harnessed to the needs of stable communities. Otherwise, like Marxists, we will be rejected as mechanistic relics of the past.”

And some paraphrases from this interview:

“What’s the good in growing an economy by 80% while at the same time increasing unemployment, effectively removing people from participating in the market, from  from 425,000 to 5.1 million.”

“The economy is there for the purpose of serving the fundamental needs of society by providing for prosperity and stabilizing society.  If we pursue an economic doctrine that produces unemployment, lowers wages and destabilizes society, we are in trouble.”

“What is wrong?  Instead of the economy serving us, we are there adoring and serving economic indexes.”

“Who benefits?  Major corporations.  There is a divorce between the interests between these corporations and society.  They are no longer linked to any country.  They farm out their capital to whatever area can provide the lowest costs of labor.  This is not just textiles, shoes…its skilled labor, high tech and service industries.  Who else benefits?  The oligarchs in third world countries.  Who loses?  The poor in the rich countries will be subsidizing the rich in the poor countries.”

“The idea of GAT is that the efficiency of agriculture should be maximized.  What does that mean?  What is cost?  What happens when you reduce the number of people on the land?  The people move to the urban centers.  You are breaking up families and throwing them into the slums.  There are not enough jobs in these cities.  The towns can’t support 2.1 billion new people.  This is the greatest disaster we will ever see via mass migration (refugees).  We should be taking into account all the costs associated with food: nutrition, the right balance of food, the environment and proper employment.”

“All of our decision making is focused on increased GNP and improving an economic index.  The result is that we are destroying the stability of our societies because we are worshiping the wrong god.”

“The ruling machinery of government and business are pushing this through without debate.”

“We have allowed the instruments that are meant to serve us and turned them into our masters.”

“I think our financial system is extremely fragile.  There is an incredible amount of danger in derivatives.  Our financial system is at risk to do real harm to the real economy.  You cannot enrich a country by empoverishing its people.”

The Corporation is today’s dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.

The film examines and criticizes corporate business practices and establishes parallels between corporate legal misbehaviour (malfeasance) and the symptoms of psychopathy, i.e. callous disregard for the feelings of other people, the incapacity to maintain human relationships, reckless disregard for the safety of others, deceitfulness (continual lying to deceive for profit), the incapacity to experience guilt, and the failure to conform to social norms and respect for the law.

This is a 3 hour version I found online.  Its well worth watching.

You can watch it for free online, but you will need to register at this site to do so.

Watch who killed the electric car in Educational |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Download the ebook

Hyperinflation is defined as “rapid, debilitating inflation that leads to a major devaluation of a country’s currency”.  Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil in the 1980s were used as case studies to extract lessons for the US.  In all cases government overspending, and paying for deficits with printed money is the underlying cause – sound familiar? The fiat money supply supply was grown exponentially, and the foreign exchange value of the currency plummeted. Foreign exchange, and wage / price controls followed.

Are We Facing Hyperinflation Now?

With almost a doubling of the adjusted monetary base since August 2008, serious inflation is already “baked in the cake” as those clever folks at Casey Research put it. The M1 has already spiked 10%.  We may not see hyperinflation but we will most likely see serious inflation.

Though this report frequently refers to “hyperinflation,” the United States is unlikely to suffer hyperinflation as it is classically defined, or even as it has occurred over the past decade in South America, with inflation rates consistently running toward 1,000 percent and beyond.

As business and financial leaders throughout Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina pointed out, though, it will not take triple-digit inflation to wreak havoc on the United States economy. A sudden acceleration into the teens and twenties would be sufficient to alter personal and corporate lifestyles, and would necessitate changes in the way Americans run their businesses and their lives.

An inflationary surge of this scope is easily possible given current U.S. economic conditions. Indeed, many South American leaders are convinced that rising inflation rates are the logical by product of what they see as our ruinous fiscal policies. Again and again, these business and financial leaders expressed dismay that America’s headlong sprint down the classic inflationary path was receiving so little attention in the United States, while it seemed so obvious from their vantage point at the end of that road.

If there is one overriding lesson from South America, it is that governments cannot indefinitely continue to spend beyond their means without suffering terrible economic consequences. There is simply no logical reason to think that the United States can become the first country in world history to successfully manage its economy by continuing to rely on the resources of other nations to finance its excesses.

This guy has some really deep things to say about how we do things in America.  I highly recommend reflecting on what he has to say.  It is mind blowing stuff and he really gets at a lot of root problems with our fundamental systems.

• Watch Part 1
• Watch Part 2

Speaking at Loyola College, David shares his views on the end of the American Empire in three video segments. He says we’re headed for separate Americas of “haves and have-nots.” Simon faults “unencumbered Capitalism” for making our country care less about the most vulnerable of our citizens. Unless we change, he predicts “we are doomed.”

Somerton Tanks Farm, a demonstration urban farm which is pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional agriculture and taking it to places where conventional wisdom says fruits and vegetables do not belong. In its fourth year of operation, using the SPIN Farming method, they produced over $68,000 in gross sales growing high value vegetables on a half-acre—in Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the U.S. By pushing the physical and philosophical boundaries of agriculture, it is achieving a level of productivity and financial success that many thought impossible. And it’s getting others to view the role of agriculture—where and how it is practiced—differently.

Ready more and watch their video >>

SPIN stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive.  This organization has developed a system for making urban farming on small plots of land profitable and accessible to just about anyone.

SPIN-Farming is a non-technical, easy-to-learn and inexpensive-to-implement vegetable farming system that makes it possible to earn significant income from land bases under an acre in size. Whether you are new to farming, or want to farm in a new way, SPIN can work for you because:

• Its precise revenue targeting formulas and organic-based techniques make it possible to gross $50,000+ from a half- acre.

• You don’t need to own land. You can affordably rent or barter a small piece of land adequate in size for SPIN-Farming production.

• It works in either the city, country or small town.

• It fits into any lifestyle or life cycle.

SPIN is being practiced by first generation farmers because it removes the two big barriers to entry – land and capital – as well as by established farmers who want to diversify or downsize, as well as by part-time hobby farmers.

Learn more at the SPIN website >>

Jeff has a solid Biblical perspective on business. He states that the purpose of business should be to serve the good of the community using profits as the means to accomplish this purpose.

We live in a world where many businesses oppress, destroy, cheat, lie, steal, murder, etc. all in the name of profit.  A few benefit from harm caused to the many.  How can this be changed…how can business be used for the benefit of many as it was intended?

How Business Contributes to Human Flourishing (January 5, 2009)

Jeff Van Duzer, is Dean of the Seattle Pacific University School of Business and Economics. Time: 35:42

Download this talk here