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Buffets and Breadlines: Is The World Really Broke Or Just Grossly Mismanaged? - Softcover

Valaskakis, Kimon

 
9781481733335: Buffets and Breadlines: Is The World Really Broke Or Just Grossly Mismanaged?
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1481733338 ISBN 13: 9781481733335
Verlag: AuthorHouse, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Conventional wisdom claims that the world is going broke, and that we must tighten our belts and accept poverty as the new normal. In a direct challenge to this view, Kimon Valaskakis, Professor of Economics, Futurist and former Canadian Ambassador to the OECD, claims the very opposite. Never in the history of civilization has Humanity been as rich as today. With an 70 trillion in world economic output for only 7 billion inhabitants of Planet Earth, there is a potential annual income of $10,000 per person. Instead, what we see is the juxtaposition of what he calls Buffets and Breadlines. A small percentage of the world population enjoys all-you-can-waste economic buffets, while the rest may be increasingly condemned to 1930's style breadlines. This gross mismanagement of the earth's resources masquerades as 'scarcity' which is then used to justify harsh austerity policies hurting everyone except the very rich. If the analysis of this first book is indeed valid, much of present public policy is doomed to fail and bound to lead to counter-productive results for the world economy. Couched in a new, yet old, genre of a philosophic play, emulating the Socratic dialogues, this book, part of a trilogy, depicts the deliberations of two dozen fictional characters who meet in Corfu, to 'change the world in three weeks' The first book chronicles the findings of their first week, in colorful and dialectal style, with opposing ideas and opinions expressed, though in the friendly conviviality of a beautiful beach resort. The second and third books, which have yet to be published, will identify desirable alternatives to the status quo, and ultimately how do we get from here to there.

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BUFFETS AND BREADLINES

Is The World Really Broke Or Just Grossly Mismanaged?

By KIMON VALASKAKIS

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2013 KIMON VALASKAKIS
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4817-3333-5

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................vii
USER MANUAL................................................................ix
COCKTAIL PARTY SUMMARY.....................................................x
PROLOGUE...................................................................xv
Dialogue 1 SETTING THE SCENE..............................................
1. Starting Point..........................................................9
2. The Evolution Of Modern Capitalism......................................19
3. The Road To 2008........................................................25
4. Chronology 2008–2012....................................................33
Dialogue 2 BUFFETS AND BREADLINES.........................................
1. The Buffet World........................................................43
2. The Soup Kitchen World..................................................59
Dialogue 3 WEALTH WITHOUT WORK............................................
1. Human Work In Historical Perspective: What Are The Facts?...............73
2. Different Attitudes Towards Work........................................94
3. What Are The Real Scenarios For Human Work In A W-3 World?..............102
Dialogue 4 NOBODY UNDERSTANDS DEBT........................................
1. Is Debt Good Or Bad?....................................................123
2. Private Vs Public Debt..................................................143
3. The Role Of The Rating Agencies.........................................146
4. What About Default?.....................................................148
5. Summary: The Debt Matrix................................................153
Dialogue 5 MARKETS VS GOVERNMENTS.........................................
1. Relevance Of The Market State Debate....................................159
2. The Conventional Wisdom.................................................161
3. Top Five Assertions About Markets And Governments.......................165
4. Summary Of The Debate...................................................192
Dialogue 6 AUSTERITY NOW! BOLD STRATEGY OR HUGE BLUNDER?..................
1. Is Austerity Fair?......................................................199
2. Is It Working?..........................................................199
3. Is it Necessary?........................................................199
4. Are there Alternatives?.................................................199
Dialogue 7 THE ATHENA DIAGNOSIS VS CONVENTIONAL WISDOM....................
Issue 1: Scarcity Or Abundance?............................................228
Issue 2: Buffets And Breadlines............................................232
Issue 3: Wealth Without Work...............................................235
Issue 4: Demystifying Debt.................................................240
Issue 5: Markets Vs Governments............................................244
Issue 6: Is Austerity A Winning Strategy?..................................248
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................269


CHAPTER 1

STARTING POINT


NEO's Opening Keynote

Friends, let me welcome you to this marvelous island wherewe have given ourselves the pleasant task of thinking aboutthe world and proposing feasible solutions to its problems. Iwill lead the debate throughout, but will entertain all sorts ofquestions, comments and challenges in the spirit of the PlatonicDialogues which have inspired this three week seminar.

You will note that Plato conveyed all of his philosophical andpolitical ideas through dialogue with characters. Successivegenerations of philosophers have preferred straight analyticalprose to popularize their theories. I myself have written all mybooks and articles in straight prose. This time, let us experimentwith dialogue.

The Agenda is ambitious. We resolve to consider the 2008Financial Crisis as a major world event which has revealed bothsevere cracks within, but also great opportunities for, the WorldEconomic System.

Today, in mid 2013, we are living the major sociopoliticaltsunami which has followed the financial earthquake of 2008.Other crashes are sure to come, but even if there were none, thehuge effects of the 2008 Crisis will be with us for a long time.

Our goals therefore are as follows:

1. To understand where we are and how we got to what wewill call POINT A.

2. To try and define where we want to go, which we cancall POINT B (in the singular or plural).

3. To identify paths that are both feasible and desirable ingoing from A to B.


Our first week will be devoted to the analysis of Point A; thesecond, which will take place in a few months, will define thecontours of one or more Point Bs; and the third week will dwellon the strategy necessary to help realize these objectives.

In essence, a think-tank for two weeks, and a do-tank for thethird, lest we be accused of just being dreamers on a dreamisland and nothing more.


QWERTY

Don't you think, O.T, that it is presumptuous for us to try anddo ourselves what has evaded the scores of experts at the IMF,the World Bank, and the OECD for decades?


NEO

Possibly, but I say, why not? We are not mandated to changethe world by anyone but ourselves. We are just a bunchof citizens, and if I may be so bold as to mention withoutarrogance, we are of high intellectual caliber, willing to applyour intelligence and knowledge to contemporary problems.

I believe that there are three features of our Athena Trilogywhich make it worthwhile and not just another me-too seminar,like the hundreds that take place all the time.

• First, by the very composition of the group, we arecombining a think-tank and a do-tank. We have assembledboth thinkers and actors in this gathering, which is a goodthing. It will ensure that we will stay on track.

• Second, we are dealing with a variety of issues whichgo well beyond the `plumbing aspects' of the worldsystem, i.e. financial regulation, deficit to GDP ratios,unemployment statistics, into the realm of philosophy.We are trying to connect the dots, uncover hiddeninter-dependencies and conversely highlight theuncoupling of previously closely-paired variables. Inmost of the other meetings, the dots are not connectedat all, and...

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Verlag
AuthorHouse
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1481733338
ISBN 13 
9781481733335
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
306
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
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