Seize the COVID moment to remake the world economy

 

Klaus Schwab discusses The Davos Agenda 2021: What is stakeholder capitalism? Its history and relevance are in the book Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet.

Moving to a new economic system?

 Today, the stakeholder concept is ready for a comeback, albeit in an updated, more comprehensive form. We are facing a whole set of social, economic, and health crises, and the best response to these challenges, would be for all actors in society to consider more than their narrow and short-term self interest. So what could stakeholder capitalism look like today, and how does it differ from the stakeholder management my father’s generation intuitively implemented in the 1960s and 1970s?1

 

Social Contract in the 70's

Terence Corcoran asks if the long battle against turning shareholder corporations into tools of 'public purpose' is now lost? In the words of Klaus Schwab, the 82-year-old German economist who founded the World Economic Forum in 1973, the existing corporate enterprise model, the shareholder version that has dominated much of the world’s economic progress over the past century, needs to be replaced. Over the week of Jan. 25, the Davos Dialogues will aim to seize the COVID moment to remake the world economy. “It is essential for leaders from all walks of life to work together virtually for a more inclusive, cohesive and sustainable future as soon as possible in 2021.” The stakeholder movement does not deny the success of the shareholder model, often described as part of the triumph of neoliberalism.

Canada’s top government-based pension plans, from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan — the country’s largest shareholders — are now backing the stakeholder movement. They want to know “how companies identify and address issues such as diversity and inclusion, human capital, and climate change” along with “social inequity, systemic racism and environmental threats.”2

 

Stephan Richter, Director of the Global Ideas Center, a global network of authors and analysts, and Editor-in-Chief of The Globalist, and Uwe Bott, Chief Economist of The Globalist Research Center and Senior Editor at The Globalist, suggest that Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum are running away from their past by suddenly disavowing neo-liberalism. Schwab notes that “For the past 30 to 50 years, the neo-liberalist ideology has increasingly prevailed in large parts of the world. This approach centers on the notion that the market knows best, that the ‘business of business is business,’ and that the government should refrain from setting clear rules for the functioning of markets. Those dogmatic beliefs have proved wrong. But fortunately, we are not destined to follow them.”

It also means tackling global mega corporations, especially those based in the United States. Beginning with their often-grotesque tax shenanigans, they are the real free riders in a troubled world. Their systematic effort to avoid paying their fair share — and thereby to contribute to preserving democracy and fairness in our societies — can no longer be tolerated. Holding these mega corporations to account firmly — even breaking them up — is in their own collective self-interest. For unless this happens, the essence of what these companies ultimately depend on the most — i.e., a consensus in favor of continued global integration — will vanish. It is already brittle enough.3 

Daniel Araya, Contributor to Forbes, AI Advisor, and Policy Analyst, asks if The Venus Project could be the next stage in human evolution.

The term “Resource Based Economy” was first coined by Jacque Fresco, the founder of The Venus Project. Fresco believed that a Resource Based Economy could support the scientific integration of automating technologies (AI and robotics) and engineering systems in providing the highest possible living standards.4

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/960x0/https%3A%2F%2Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%2Fimageserve%2F5f4ae74ae2aa5c77bd707f4e%2F960x0.jpg%3Ffit%3Dscale

 

The COVID crisis has shone a light on the deficiencies in the present economic and monetary systems to address a worldwide existential threat. Oskar Gonzalez has produced a Video on the transition to a resource-based economy.

A Balance is Needed

 

The just distribution of wealth, the challenge of inequality, and the need for worldwide coordinated action in a crisis point to the need to reconsider the effectiveness of neo-liberal capitalism and the current monetary system to best support the common good.

 

References

 

1	(2021, January 22). What is stakeholder capitalism? It's History and Relevance .... Retrieved January 25, 2021, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/klaus-schwab-on-what-is-stakeholder-capitalism-history-relevance/
2	(2021, January 22). Terence Corcoran: The murky rise of Klaus Schwab's .... Retrieved January 25, 2021, from https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-the-murky-rise-of-stakeholder-capitalism
3	(2021, January 26). Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum Run Away from .... Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://www.theglobalist.com/world-economic-forum-klaus-schwab-neoliberalism-capitalism-corporate-responsibility/
4	(2020, September 1). Is The Venus Project The Next Stage In Human Evolution?. Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielaraya/2020/09/01/is-the-venus-project-the-next-stage-in-human-evolution/

Venus Project Forbes and Bill McKibben

 Forbes, has published an online article in which Daniel Araya (PhD), a technology consultant and advisor working at the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation and public policy, reports on an interview with Roxanne Meadows and Nathanael Dinwiddie of The Venus Project to better understand their thoughts on the future. One area of concern involves how the Venus Project envisions utilizing AI in decision-making.

Meadows and Dinwiddie: Applying the methods of science and technology (including AI) to the operation of the world’s societies will lead to a substantially more reliable functioning of support systems than we have today. Homelessness, starvation, war, and environmental degradation are consequences of today’s political and economic approaches to decision-making. A Resource Based Economy operates within a unified systems approach that utilizes the methods of science and AI to arrive at the most appropriate decisions at any given time. Unlike today’s implementation of technology, this new approach would be carefully carried out with the utmost human and environmental concern. The real-time influx of quantitative and qualitative data would provide real-time feedback, enabling humanity to constantly observe and continually improve the operation of the system over time.1

Bill McKibben and Yuval Noah Harari have written about the need for caution and vigilance as technology moves to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence) with intelligence surpassing humans and decision speeds a million times faster than humans.

 

 

The human masters of these systems may have personal enrichment and worker control motives resulting in an increase in inequality in society.

 1(2020, September 1). Is The Venus Project The Next Stage In Human Evolution?. Retrieved September 3, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielaraya/2020/09/01/is-the-venus-project-the-next-stage-in-human-evolution/

Getting Involved in change after Covid19

One of the themes running through the YouTube video Designing and Constructing a TRUE Net Zero City. (https://youtu.be/ap3NCou1rSc ) is that the current Covid-19 crisis may be the pause before the opportunity to make significant changes in how we use and share resources on our planet.

Trends to act upon

The Economist reports that rich countries are trying radical economic policies to counter Covid-19. The Economist article comments that history suggests that the effects will be permanent.

 The vast majority of economists support these measures. Nominally they are temporary, designed to hold the economy in an induced coma until the pandemic passes, at which point the world is supposed to revert to the status quo ante. But history suggests that a return to pre-covid days is unlikely. Two lessons stand out. The first is that governmental control over the economy takes a large step up during periods of crisis—and in particular war. The second is that the forces encouraging governments to retain and expand economic control are stronger than the forces encouraging them to relinquish it, meaning that a “temporary” expansion of state power tends to become permanent.1

Joseph Zeballos-Roig writes that Spain is moving to permanently establish universal basic income in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

https://i.insider.com/5e8b4b8ac0232045ff29f7f5?width=1200&format=jpeg&auto=webp

 Nadia Calviño, the country's minister for economic affairs, told the Spanish broadcaster La Sexta on Sunday evening that the government was planning to introduce the cash handouts as part of a barrage of policies meant to help people get back on their feet.
She said enacting basic income was "mostly aimed at families, but differentiating between their circumstances."
Calviño didn't offer a specific date as to when basic income could be rolled out in the country. But she said the government hoped it would become "a permanent instrument."
"We're going to do it as soon as possible," she said. "So it can be useful, not just for this extraordinary situation, and that it remains forever."2

In the publication Climate Change and Cities urban planners have done an assessment report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network. Urban planning and urban design have a critical role to play in the global response to climate change. Actions that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and build resilience to climate risks should be prioritized at all urban scales – metropolitan region, city, district/neighborhood, block, and building.

Looking for LEED design

This needs to be done in ways that are responsive to and appropriate for local conditions.

 Urban planners and urban designers have a portfolio of climate change strategies that guide decisions on urban form and function:
 • Urban waste heat and GHG emissions from infrastructure – including buildings, transportation, and industry – can be reduced through improvements in the efficiency of urban systems.
 • Modifying the form and layout of buildings and urban districts can provide cooling and ventilation that reduces energy use and allow citizens to cope with higher temperatures and more intense runoff.
 • Selecting low heat capacity construction materials and reflective coatings can improve building performance by managing heat exchange at the surface.
 • Increasing the vegetative cover in a city can simultaneously lower outdoor temperatures, building cooling demand, runoff, and pollution, while sequestering carbon...3

SWAGR (Solidarity with Alton Gas Resistance) is a Halifax-based group of organizers from Council of Canadians, Ecology Action Centre, Solidarity Halifax and the general community. The focus of this group is to support resistance efforts against the Alton Natural Gas Storage Project, and we take our direction from frontline Mi’kmaq communities and other residents of the surrounding area.

Protecting water

In Nova Scotia, Alton Gas has a hugely destructive plan to create salt caverns in which to store natural gas, by dumping the equivalent of 3,000 tons of hard salt into the Shubenacadie river everyday. This massive 50 year project would seriously harm the river ecosystem and put the health, livelihoods and rights of the Mi’kmaq people at risk. It is also in contravention of the Fisheries Act, which prohibits the deposit of “deleterious substances” into water frequented by fish.

 Since September 2016, Mi’kmaq water protectors have been asserting their rights under the Peace and Friendship treaties by building infrastructure (the Treaty Truck House and then the Treaty Camp) on Shubenacadie River. For over 2 years, they have permanently occupied this site, effectively preventing the company from breaking the provincial, federal and treaty laws.
Now, in a surprise move, instead of opposing the Alton Gas project for not complying with federal regulations, the Federal government is looking to make completely new rules, just for Alton Gas, so that the project can go forward. This proves what Water Protectors have been asserting since last November: the current plan is not compliant with the Fisheries Act.
Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Mi’kmaq people will directly violate UNDRIP along with the Trudeau government’s promise to fully implement the Declaration.4

Aquaponics Farmers that add fish to their vegetable mix say they're combining the benefits of an ecosystem with the resource-efficiency of an water-based operation.

 “Even though [aquaponic farmers] have been operating in the U.S. for more than 30 years, we don’t have a good count,” Cufone says. That applies both to commercial operations such as Hasey’s that sell to regional supermarkets and also to backyard, or “recreational,” farms like the one Aney would like to set up. The latter are especially difficult to track. RFC wants to see aquaculture acknowledged as a positive addition to American agriculture and thereby boost its lobbying power. Haney, an RFC member, calls aquaponics, “the answer” to generating year-round income for farmers constrained by the seasons.5

These trends reported in the media today may suggest several ways to get involved now in projects in Nova Scotia that are closely related to the outcomes of the work of the Venus Project and Resource Based Economy described in the video.

References

1	(2020, March 26). Building up the pillars of state - Rich countries try radical .... Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/03/26/rich-countries-try-radical-economic-policies-to-counter-covid-19
2	(2020, April 7). Spain is moving to permanently establish universal basic .... Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/spain-universal-basic-income-coronavirus-yang-ubi-permanent-first-europe-2020-4
3	(n.d.). Urban Planning and Urban Design - Urban Climate Change .... Retrieved April 7, 2020, from http://uccrn.org/files/2019/09/ARC3.2-PDF-Chapter-5-Urban-Planning-and-Design-wecompress.com_.pdf
4	(n.d.). Stop Alton Gas – for our river, water, air, and climate. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://stopaltongas.wordpress.com/
5	(2017, August 30). Aquaponics Farmers Band Together to Set Their Industry Apart. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from https://civileats.com/2017/08/30/the-effort-to-keep-aquaponic-farming-afloat/

Venus Project and Laudato Si

The transition advocated by the Venus Project and the conversion exhorted in Pope Francis encyclical “Laudato Si” share some common ground.

Source: https://www.thevenusproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/tvp_smi1200_series1_2of10_commonheritage.jpg

Jacque Fresco, Founder of The Venus Project, comments that the only hope for developing a new civilization is to accept responsibility for improving our lives through knowledge, understanding, and a deeper comprehension of humanity’s relationship to natural processes of evolution. Our future is determined by the effort we put forth to achieve this transition.

The Venus Project proposes directing our technology and resources toward the maximum benefit of people and planet, and seeking out new ways of thinking and living that emphasize and celebrate the vast potential of the human spirit. We have the tools at hand to design and build a future that is worthy of the human potential.1 

In this sixth episode of "Understanding Laudato Si," Fr. Daniel P. Horan, OFM, explores the second half of Chapter Two. The four subheadings of Chapter Two examined here include the themes of: (A) The message of each creature in the harmony of creation; (B) A universal communion; (C) The common destination of goods;

and (D) The gaze of Jesus.

95. The natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone. If we make something our own, it is only to administer it for the good of all. If we do not, we burden our consciences with the weight of having denied the existence of others. That is why the New Zealand bishops asked what the commandment “Thou shall not kill” means when “twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive”.[78]2 

Laudato Si and the Venus Project both understand the earth’s resources to be the common heritage and responsibility of all peoples. The possibility of complementary action in acting on the direction of these projects is worth exploration.

References

1	(n.d.). What Kind of World (a series: #2 of 10) | The Venus Project. Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.thevenusproject.com/multimedia/%E2%80%A8what-kind-of-world-a-series-2-of-10/
2	(2015, May 24). Laudato si' (24 May 2015) - La Santa Sede. Retrieved June 29, 2019, from http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

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