Martin Luther King Jr. was a great person, but that’s not the reason his memorial is on the Washington Mall. Like Abraham Lincoln, King’s memorial is on the Mall because he was assassinated. Although the speeches today touched on the struggles ahead to realize his dream, not much was said about the violence of his death.
One rationale for the military action in Libya was to protect civilians. Many probably see this as a reasonable humanitarian response, but few would see it as an economic response. Why not? What kind of economic framework ignores the human need for protection? It turns out that this is true of much of mainstream economics, which is certainly one reason we continue to move toward a dismal future.
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