February 7, 2011 – 11:47 am by Phil Entwistle
I’m sure others who use Quakernomics are ahead of me and have already read and digested this book. I’ve just read the last chapter – title “The Bill”. I found it reassuring in one sense. It confirms what I’ve been thinking: about a broken system; enough is enough; it’s mainly the banks’ fault; and a [...]
December 2, 2010 – 11:42 pm by Jo Poole
Tagged business ethics, Gillian Tett, Quakers and business, social anthropology, sustainability
At the recent Quaker Business Conference 2010, senior Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett explained why she thought the answer to the above question is ‘yes’. Before becoming a journalist, Gillian worked as a social anthropologist in Soviet Tajikistan while studying for a PhD. One of the things anthropologists observe is what is discussed and, perhaps [...]
November 30, 2010 – 10:02 am by Fiona
Four people from Oxford and Abingdon met on Friday 19 November to discuss Money. Thanks to those on this blog who have highlighted the importance of money both in causing the problems in the current debt-based and growth-obsessed system and as a key to changing it. This summary is my interpretation of our discussion. I [...]
November 22, 2010 – 11:39 am by Phil Entwistle
Tagged banks ethics investment speculation
I’m feeling angry about Ireland and the bail-out. No-one seems to be asking the banks to pay for their mess. Surely it would be better to let them fail, instead of giving them the chance to do it again. Perhaps then we’d get some banks whose ethics more nearly matched those of most of their [...]
November 22, 2010 – 11:37 am by Phil Entwistle
Tagged co-operatives banking
It’s good to know that our government is interested in developing co-operatives for large organisations, including possibly the Post Office. But I’m disturbed that they seem to have public-sector services in mind – seeing co-operatives as another kind of privatisation. The private sector might need the John Lewis model more urgently. In 2007, the Co-op [...]
November 15, 2010 – 12:58 pm by Phil Entwistle
Tagged climate, values argument persuasion
I came across a report last week that gave me hope. It made me realise that my usual approach to trying to argue for change is the wrong one. I like to quote facts, trying to be objective and reason things out. But I now see that people generally stick with opinions that reflect their [...]
November 4, 2010 – 11:37 am by JeffMowatt
Tagged capitalism, compassion, ethics, international, people-centered
This story begins with an invitation from the US President offering a citizen the opportunity to serve on a committee, the one which drives the campaign for his re-election. He’s given no brief for the role, that of honorary researcher, so decides to write a white paper a “what if” describing a new economic paradigm [...]
October 22, 2010 – 4:47 pm by Fiona
Tagged GDP, Spirit Level, zero growth
I’ve been intrigued to discover that growth is a structural necessity in our current economy, for social stability ie to avoid unemployment. Growth can sound like a good thing – particularly in the neo-classical paradigm of “more is better”. But GDP growth is not an imperative for our leaders because it makes us better off. [...]
October 19, 2010 – 8:51 am by Fiona
Tagged credit crunch, debt, financial, policy
One question I have is how did the financial markets managed to destabilise entire economies during the credit crunch. This is important as nothing fundamental has changed as a result of the credit crunch so we are surely vulnerable to a repeat. I have tried to understand this from Tim Jackson’s SDC report “Prosperity Without [...]
October 4, 2010 – 8:36 am by Peter Wrigley
Tony Weekes feels that a No Growth economy is a non-starter but seems in sympathy with a Steady State economy. I suppose it depends on how these things are defined, but I regard them as more or less synonymous. “No-growthers” do not claim that the economy should not change , but that we should cease [...]
