Today I ran across an excellent essay by a fellow named Howard Bloom, called Reinventing Capitalism: Putting Soul in the Machine. His argument is that we should “re-vision” our western capitalistic civilization – to see it for all its greatness and promise, not just its faults.
I especially like this particular line: “We can reveal a central secret of the Western system—we’re not mere digits in a numbers game; we’re feeling people woven in emotional exchange.”
“Woven in an emotional exchange.” That’s the basis for my plan, “Dawn’s Plan” that takes the fabric of social networking – which is now limited to informational exchange – and weaves in the exchange of commerce. In this way, people can make a living doing what they love to do, what they are meant to do.
Bloom argues that capitalism has a beating heart. I couldn’t agree more. Capitalism allows people to express their talents and passions in a very personal, tangible way that compensates them materially. Capitalism is an artist’s tool. And also the proven tool of philanthropists. That it has too often been the instrument of greedy robber barons doesn’t change the fact that it’s still the best tool in the economic chest.
My own strong belief is that the key to “reinventing capitalism” so as to make it more egalitarian is to allow everybody access to wealth creation, no matter what your talents and passions are. This demands taking advertising distribution control away from advertisers and giving it to the public, as well as a few other steps that I have talked about in this blog many times.
The Internet is what can reinvent capitalism, if my plan is adopted.
