Capitalism is so much held in reverence that for some it is like a religion. In fact people proudly proclaim I’m a capitalist! Seemingly it provides the guiding principle for behavior and thus the basis for how to structure life. In effect (putting their faith in capitalism) people have allowed the pursuit of (personal) wealth [...]
Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category
Time to Get Heretical
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, Systems Thinking on January 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Rethinking a Fixed System
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, Moral Values, partnership, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on January 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Is the system broken? No, not at all! It is fixed just as desired. Our economic system has no (explicit) concern for ‘we’ in its design, it is all about ‘me’ getting what I can for ‘myself’—it is best labeled an egoistic economic system. The pursuit of material self-interest is the guiding principle for [...]
What’s a Frog To Do?
Posted in Economy, Life, Systems Thinking, tagged Business of business, Change, Economy, Ethical Principles, Progress, Systems Thinking on January 8, 2012 | 2 Comments »
I assume most are familiar with the parable of the boiled frog. Briefly, just to refresh your memory, a frog placed in a cool and comfortable body of water that is continually rising in temperature will not sense the incremental temperature change from the immediate past to present moment and remain in the water until [...]
Reflection #3 on Occupy Wall Street
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Progress, Systems Thinking on November 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
If the Occupy movement is to succeed then it must lead us to understand that the economic system is not broken but that it is fundamentally flawed. What we are experiencing is nothing but an ill-conceived system taken to its inevitable conclusion: The privatization of society and the growing divide between the haves and the [...]
Education, Work and Quality
Posted in Economy, Education, Quality on November 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Jared Bernstein offers valuable thoughts on the relationship between education and work. He argues quite credibly that the wage return on higher education has leveled off since about the 1990’s. Bernstein asserts this is not because of a mismatch between what corporations need and what higher education institutions provide. However he does claim “we’d have [...]
What If
Posted in Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Change, Economy, human spirit, Learning, Progress on October 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Jonathan Askin, Professor at Brooklyn Law, characterizes the people of Occupy Wall Street as a 21st Century reincarnation of the What If Generation of the 1960’s Vietnam Protesters. As Askin noted, instead of asking, “what if there was a war and nobody came” today’s protesters are asking such questions as “what if we had bailed [...]
Rethink or Reload
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Problem Solving, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Problem Solving, Progress, Systems Thinking on October 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In his OP-ED column in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman briefly summarizes two books, “The Great Disruption” by Paul Gilding and “The Power of Pull” by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown & Lang Davison that each speak to the many social protests (a.k.a. The Great Disruption) we are seeing throughout the world—Occupy Wall [...]
The Indignation of the Immune
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Systems Thinking, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Moral Values, Progress, Systems Thinking on October 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In a recent article by Paul Krugman spoke to the whining from the elite in Wall Street who believe that the good that they have done for society is not understood, claiming that “finance is the only thing America does well.” Not only is it telling of where we are as a society that [...]
Reflection #2 on Occupy Wall Street
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Morality/Ethics, tagged Change, human spirit, Moral Values, Progress, Systems Thinking on October 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
For the most part we as a society seem to agree religion and the governance of society should not be intertwined. That is, in theory, government of the people should be by and for the people (democracy) and not by anyone claiming he/she has the right to rule because of the power given to him/her [...]
A Reflection on Occupy Wall Street
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Morality/Ethics, tagged Business of business, Change, Economy, human spirit, Moral Values, Progress on October 6, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Occupy Wall Street is bringing to most everyone’s attention that we, the 99%, are not mere cogs in the economic machinery and those in the executive suite are not our overlords. I applaud the courage and commitment of those standing up for the rights of citizens.