During the 1980s human poverty and misery in the world increased and, as
a result, ecological disaster now threatens. Our present economic path
is systematically damaging to both people and the Earth. The need for a
greener economy is now widely accepted, but the author of Future Wealth
stresses the need for a more fundamental revolution in the way the world
thinks about economics and organizes economic life. We need a new
economic order for the 21st century, geared to the real needs of people
as well as the Earth. The keywords must be enable (for people) and
conserve (for the Earth). We must establish in the public mind worldwide
that human beings are capable of something better than competitive
greed--between people and between nations--as the mainspring of economic
life. We must replace our systematic wastefulness and polluting with
systematic conserving, reform the money system, and shift taxation away
from what people contribute to society and on to what they take out of
it. This book is for everyone who is in any way concerned about the
present state of the world. It is for those interested in environmental
issues, in public health, in poverty, in Third World development. It is
for professionals, planners, economists, academics, business people,
managers and politicians who are interested in economic and social
change and the future.
