Things fall apart
But people don't experience the economy through employment numbers or percentage point shifts in GDP. And when they are asked by pollsters about the state of the economy, they aren't reflecting on government statistics; they aren't even necessarily thinking about the present. Instead, what they’re doing is more like taking an inventory of economic... See more
solidarity without proximity, civic renewal without economic renewal, and democracy without participation.
Sam Pressler • The lies we tell ourselves
In current economic data, the growing wealth and income of the FIRE sector are added to GDP as economic growth, even though they in fact take the form of a steepening liability for households and businesses in the rest of the economy, leaving less income for consumption or productive investment. “This financialized overhead is not real growth,”... See more
Financialization — The Democracy Collaborative
In the modern era, the satisfiers for needs have often been appropriated by large centralized organizations such as the nation-state or multinational corporations. Such satisfiers are decontextualized — they are not unique to place and culture and their ownership, management and control is not embedded in the communities who depend on them.... See more
Designing Systems Interventions – Transition Design Seminar CMU
These three character -forming institutions, families, churches, and schools have left a void that may put undue burdens on public policy.
Isabel V. Sawhill • Social Capital: Why We Need It and How We Can Create More of It
1) Design’s strong relationship to the consumer-led marketplace has increasingly come to define designers’ role and potential; 2) the imperative to think and design in ever shorter horizons of time (time = money) and produce quick results encourages the de-contextualization of problems (all stakeholders are not served, social and environmental... See more
Social Relations – Transition Design Seminar CMU
Americans used to live within “place-based networks” of clubs, churches, schools, commerce, and recreation that overlapped, wrapping individuals in social support. Local networks protected individuals from isolation and loneliness.
Those networks have largely disappeared, replaced by networks based outside the local community. We shop and interact... See more
Those networks have largely disappeared, replaced by networks based outside the local community. We shop and interact... See more