[GJM] Rethinking Social Security - Talking Economics Bulletin - September 2006.

[robert searle]

--- Arthur Edwards <arthur at talkingeconomics.co.uk>
wrote:

> The Talking Economics Bulletin consists of news and
> views on associative economics, including short
> extracts from Associative Economics Monthly
> (available electronically for £1 an issue at
> www.cfae.biz/aem or in a hard copy format - tel (UK)
> 01227 738207). To unsubscribe from this list, reply
> or send an email to info at talkingeconomics.com with
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> 
> The bulletin did not appear in August, so included
> here are the editorials from two issues of
> Associative Economics Monthly, with news also of a
> series of London based events beginning in October.
> 
> Arthur Edwards
> 
> 1)  Rethinking Social Security -  Editorial, AEM
> September 06.
> 2)  World Economic Institutions - Editorial, AEM
> August 06.
> 3)  Rudolf Steiner and the View from London
> 4)  The Art and Science of Economics
> 
> 1) EDITORIAL FROM ASSOCIATIVE ECONOMICS MONTHLY -
> September 06
> 
> The challenge by which one is faced in 'Rethinking
> Social Security' is not a light one. In this issue,
> the general concept of social security is
> reviewed in terms of the current state-market
> dichotomy, and more fundamentally by giving thought
> to what the terms ‘public’ and ‘private’ actually
> refer, and whether narrowly self-interested or more
> broadly conceived notions should be invoked if a way
> out of today’s ‘black holes’ is to be found.
> 
> Workless Income provides a survey and commentary on
> the arrangements that 19th and 20th century thinking
> have thus-far given rise to and asks what
> their future prospect now is. Rare Albion suggests
> an answer in the case of pensions, at least, its
> futuristic account set off by The Signs of the
> Times piece on pension changes presently being
> implemented by the British government.
> 
> Beginning with the Human Being provides a foil to
> much conventional thinking with its two main ideas:
> that work and income (in the sense of reward
> for work) should be separated, and that economic
> life should be associatively and contractually
> organised to ensure none are without life's
> necessities.
> 
> A Basic Income for Every One previews a conference
> in Switzerland on this concept and how it might be
> given effect in today’s circumstances.
> 
> In the spirit of coordinated economic activity,
> which is what associative economics is all about,
> the report Investing  in One Another documents
> recent micro-efforts to build understanding for this
> approach, while the item in Accountant's Corner on
> Reliability vs. Relevance touches on
> considerations of a more macro-social nature, by
> hinting that fundamentally it is the whole economy's
> point of view that true accounting should
> reflect.
> 
> 2) EDITORIAL FROM ASSOCIATIVE ECONOMICS MONTHLY -
> August 06
> 
> In connection with economic life power can have two
> meanings - political power and energy – and these
> can become confused, as, for example, in the
> case of the World Trade Organisation or in access to
> water. Or even the complexity of interests focused
> on Iran because of the implicit threat to
> western energy supplies posed by China and Islamic
> fundamentalism. Much of today’s social landscape is
> the result of political power becoming
> intimately and thus dangerously connected with the
> possession of resources,
> especially energy resources. To avoid or overcome
> this volatile linkage, we need to cease organising
> economic life as a composite of national
> dominions that then compete against each other for
> resources, which in turn should be understood and
> treated as humanity’s joint commons.
> 
> Such ideas did surface albeit briefly in the 1920s
> and early 1930s, but became lost. This edition
> revisits some of these ideas in order to sense how,
> in respect of power, modern economic life can be
> understood quite differently to the way we have
> become accustomed.
> 
> The selected texts look at the seminal ideas of
> Daniel Dunlop that underly today’s World Energy
> Council, together with the wider conception of
> Rudolf
> Steiner’s analysis of modern social and economic
> life with which Dunlop was very familiar.
> 
> Rare Albion’s Wheat and Gold Authorities and the
> item on Energy as Global Commons touch the need to
> ‘decommodify’ key resources. Finally, though the
> link may not be readily recognised, the report on
> associative accounting recognises that any real
> change in our understanding and use of power will
> need to pay attention to the way we keep accounts.
> Taxation, the importance of study and the question
> of compound interest complete the edition.
> 
> 3) Rudolf Steiner and the View from London
> 
> A series of monthly presentation-based conversations
> exploring Rudolf Steiner's contribution to economic
> issues.
> 
> 20th October 2006 Money as Bookkeeping - The basis
> for a world currency
> A global economy calls for a global currency, but
> what sort and how denominated? Should there be a
> world central bank or should money be accounting
> based?
> 
> 10th November 2006 - The Role of the Corporation
> 
> The modern corporation is frequently criticised, but
> is it as such a problem, or could it modified to
> become humanity’s friend rather than foe?
> 
> 8th December 2006 - The Future of the Financial
> Markets
> 
> Financial markets are seen by some as negative
> developments, holding us all to the ransom of
> money’s dictates, but what if their true value was
> human
> creativity?
> 
> Minimum attendance of 10 people required - prior
> registration by 10th October. Contact Arthur Edwards
> (01452 810764) or Christopher Houghton Budd
> (01227 738207) or email economics at goetheanum.org
> 
> Time:  7.15 - 9.00 pm.
> Cost: £5
> Venue:  Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road NW1 6XT
> 0207 723 4400 / Baker Street Tube
> 
> 4)  THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ECONOMICS, a course on
> Rudolf Steiner's Economics Lectures - September 2006
> - May 2007    
> 
> The Art and Science of Economics course will
> conducted by Gary Lamb and Michael Howard.
> Typically, the course will take place on the 3rd
> Saturday
> each month for seven months beginning in September,
> 2006, (There will be no session in late December,
> and May is reserved as a makeup date.). Each
> full-day session will cover two of the fourteen
> lectures of Rudolf Steiner's World Economy course by
> way of presentations, conversations on theory
> and practice, and artistic exercises. Participants
> in the seminars will be asked to complete reading
> and other assignments between the monthly
> sessions. The seminar will consist of seven
> sessions, and participants will need to commit to
> the complete series.
> 
> Interested parties are encouraged to inquire as soon
> as possible. Registration deadline is August 18,
> 2006. A minimum of 10 participants is needed
> for the seminar. For more information, contact Gary
> Lamb at the Center for Social and Environmental
> Responsibility (CSER) at Hawthorne Valley, 327
> Route 21C, Ghent, NY 12075 USA; 518-392-9620;
> garylamb at usadatanet.net
> 
> ---
> END
> --
> 'Associative Economics Monthly',  is available at
> www.cfae.biz/aem
> 
> The associative approach to economics is based on
> the idea that economic life is the shared
> responsibility of every human being. Talking
> Economics is
> about making this responsibility conscious and
> finding ways to give it effect.
> www.talkingeconomics.com--
> www.talkingeconomics.co.uk
> 
> The Centre for Associative Economics, Forge House,
> The Green, Chartham,
> Canterbury, CT4 7JW, 01227 738207
> 
> 
> 
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