How do we get from here to there—from where we are to where we want to be? One can imagine a civic economy where economic trends are moving toward making provisions for everyone and ensuring that future generations have the capacities to meet their needs. But how do we get there?
When the European countries agreed to move from national currencies to a “common currency,” one can assume that they thought of money primarily as a means of exchange, as a currency. If we want to talk (trade) with each other, why not use the same language (money)? Not a bad idea. Today it appears that they have failed to protect the “common” nature of money.
It would make a world of difference if we stopped treating land and labor as commodities and began to recognize them as providers of wealth. It might make an even greater difference if we discarded our childhood view of money as something to put in a piggy bank and took a more adult view of money as something we share in common.
Marvin T. Brown, Ph.D teaches business and organizational ethics at the University of San Francisco and Saybrook University in San Francisco.
This book is the culmination of 30 years of teaching and writing on business and society from a communicative perspective. Visit workingethics.com for more information.
Adam Smith American Dream Atlantic trade banks biosphere citizen Citizens United civic civic conversations civic economy Civicism civic membership civilizing the economy Commons corporate citizen corporations democracy disagreement economics of property economics of provision Egypt health care reform human dignity invisible hand John Locke libertarianism Libya living wage membership money moral equality property property relations protection Scotland slavery slaves Smith and slavery Smithian economics sports sustainability system of provision the civic tobacco trade Wall Street