The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (The CBC Massey Lectures)

An expansive and inclusive care economy is one possible expression of an ethic of insecurity, and one that would require dismantling systems that produce and exploit vulnerability. Instead of profit-hungry recklessness, a care economy would proceed cautiously, taking care of people and the planet by doing less harm, and by seeking to repair the dam

When we shrink the welfare state because we expect the worst from people, we end up hurting ourselves and those we care about, creating a vicious cycle that stokes desperation and division.

Things falling apart can portend doom, but it can also presage regeneration, allowing new possibilities to emerge amid the ruins.

our economic system depends on manufacturing insecurity to create more pliable workers and insatiable consumers.

When the Pew Charitable Trusts conducted a poll asking if people would prefer financial stability to upward mobility, more than nine out of ten respondents said they would eagerly abandon the pursuit of wealth for security.

The hazard, in other words, comes from the possibility that millions of people might be less stressed-out and more free.

The most secure communities do not have the most police. They are the ones with the resources to meet people’s needs.

In the words of narrator George Manuel, “perpetual debt binds us firmly to the store.”

The fault lies not with struggling individuals but with an economy structured to profit from indebtedness, treat land as a speculative asset, and keep us overwhelmed, isolated, and insecure.