<nettime> RVINS OF A NEVV ECONOMII DIGEST [lebkowsky, weishaus]

["nettime's_dot_dot_dot" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

RE: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy
     "Jon Lebkowsky" <jonl@well.com>
     "Joel Weishaus" <weishaus@pdx.edu>

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From: "Jon Lebkowsky" <jonl@well.com>
Subject: RE: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 10:48:56 -0600

> Today's NY Times has another piece called
>
> What Have E-Consultants Wrought? By AMY HARMON
>
> where she looks at the damage caused by consultants (gee, what a novel
> theme!) over the past four years or so.

However there were also those of us who were somewhat skeptical of the
mania, yet wandered down that whacky path imagining that we were building
sustainable enterprises. (I worked with a "sustainable" company that lasted
only four months!)

And I once argued with Mark Dery that Kevin Kelly was a cut above Tom
Peters; now I'm not so sure.

So continuing my train of thought from a message earlier today... we need a
better sense of ethics, but we also need better bullshit detectors!

-- jon

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From: "Joel Weishaus" <weishaus@pdx.edu>
Subject: Re: <nettime> Ruins of a new economy
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 17:10:06 -0700

> The real problem with the 'new economy,' IMO, had nothing to do with the
> technology, which is clearly a boon and here to stay. The problem with the
> 'new economy' is nothing new: it's the same downsides of capitalism that
> nettimers know so well: greed and avarice. I argued here some weeks ago
> capitalism (corporations) are just a form of organization, that greed is not
> inherent but the product of a failure to instill any sense of ethics in our
> legions of fresh-scrubbed MBAs, the same folks who siezed the Internet as
> their own and called it an "industry."

Jon,

I'm no ecomonist, but I do know that capitalism is about money, which is
what capital is. Wealth is to capitalism what gold medals are to the
Olympics. The more the better. Where do you introduce morals into such a
system?
It also goes to population growth. Capitalism needs constant population
growth to make new consumers, which, at the same time, is destroying the
planet, already overrun with humans, crowding out habitate of other species,
destroying the land, water, air. Capitalism, too, needs raw materials in
order to produce goods for sale, and these are running out. It's a neurotic
system on the border of insanity. It needs intensive therapy.

> Manic growth is never sustainable, and it's a relief to see this latest
> bubble burst (anyone who's lived in a boomtown won't be surprised to see
> this side of the cycle). The question now is how we evolve an ethical
> tradition so that whatever form our future may take, we learn to be more
> humane and to think in terms of sustainability. The real new economy should
> be founded on an ethics of economic justice, which is antithetical to the
> net-boom focus on growth at all costs.

I agree. But, I think, if history is the teacher, change will only come
after major world-wide catastrophes. What we can do now is expand the
conversation to include more & more people, especially young people, to
change the perception of capitalism that the corporate media gives. Only by
creating healthy minds will the system will be seen for what it is.

Best Regards,
Joel Weishaus

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