“Why civilize the economy?”

This is not a book I had been waiting to write. At least I didn’t think so. Now that it is finished, I can see that it belongs to a particular personal story that began with my participation in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, in 1965, surfaced again years later with my work in the ethics and diversity training programs at Levi Strauss and Company, and now continues with a tale of slavery and economics. That is my story. It is not, however, the primary story of this book.

The book sets up a contest between two economic frameworks: one is based on property relations and focuses on the accumulation of property; the other is based on civic relations and focuses on the making of provisions. The first one treats the planet and people as commodities and values them by the price they can fetch in the market. The second one treats the planet and human communities as living providers and protects them for this and future generations. In this book, the second framework wins. If it doesn’t win, we all lose. This contest is not between capitalism and socialism or between government control and private control. It is a contest between an uncivilized and a civilized economy.