by Peter Barnes
|
| List Price: | $22.95 |
| Amazon Price: | $15.61 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $7.34 (32%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $13.50 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
From the cofounder of Working Assets comes a visionary plan to upgrade capitalism.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Best blueprint I've seen for restoring sanity to capitalism., 2008-04-06
Barnes does a terrific job laying out a blueprint for dealing with the amazingly complex system we call capitalism today, a plan for curing many of the dysfunctions driving us into an imperilled future. I love the special sections addressing all the players at the end. Now we need to rebuild the system so it sustains human live for future generations. We have the framework thanks to Barnes. Now we must build the finished product...like volunteers for Habitat for Humanity it is time for all of us to pick up a tool and get work, wherever we are, whatever we are doing.
My own work deals with shifting the paradigm from which we think. But structures still need to change so they are aligned with the new consciousness. This book is a great start.
Thank you, Peter Barnes!!
John Renesch, author, Getting to the Better Future
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Broadening the Ownership of Capital, 2008-03-20
"Capitalism 2.0" names the problem that needs solving: our economic system that relies on increasing consumption. It is destroying nature, widening the gap between the few very rich and the many very poor, and failing to increase our happiness. Peter shows that the solution will not come from government, because it is controlled by the persons causing the problem. Corporate shareowners are also dismissed as a source of change.
The book's subtitle is "A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons." The "commons" means all the tangible or intangible "things" that do not belong to an individual, a corporation or other private entity. The commons belong equally to all individuals, including future generations. Over the centuries, many things that once were in the commons have been taken as private property or used for private purposes. The rest of us lose when a part of the commons is taken, such as with land and the airwaves. We also lose when the commons are used for private purposes, such as the use of air and water to dispose of waste.
What his book proposes, the "Capitalism 3.0" of its title, is that individual trusts be created to hold each element of the commons. The trustees would not only protect the trust property for future generations but they would also collect fees for its use and distribute them as dividends to all U.S. residents. The aggregate of the distributions from all these trusts could be enough to bring everyone above the poverty level.
I believe there is a missed opportunity in Peter's argument against a solution coming from shareowner action. He shows that existing shareowners routinely vote with management. What is missing is how that ownership structure could be changed, especially for younger businesses that are most likely to seek profitable new ways to solve social issues. Our own work is in broadening the ownership of business and in building a more direct relationship between the owners and their stewards in management. Peter places capitalism and community in conflict. He suggests the trusts of commons as a way to serve the community, leaving capitalism to service individual acquisition and consumption. We believe that businesses can market their ownership to their own communities, resulting in both service to the community and an investment return to the individual shareowners.
Capitalism 3.0 is a clear, well-thought-out analysis of the problems and a plan for protecting our world and society for future generations, while alleviating poverty.
Drawing upon John Rawls A Theory of Justice, Peter proposes the "predistribution of property," to provide more people with a source of income, rather than the redistribution of income that is practiced through taxation and welfare. However, predistributing assets into trusts means interposing an elite class to take care of the rest of us. The trustees would manage the commons, for the benefit of humans and other creatures now and for all time to come. Those of us being protected would have no direct participation in making policy or running the operations.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Good ideas, poorly written, 2007-12-09
There are some great ideas in this book and it is highly educational. However it seems like it could have really used a solid editor. First off, the running metaphor of capitalism and operating systems is just plain dumb, maybe it's because I am a software guy, but I just find it distracting. It lowers the authors cred.
Another gripe is that the book doesn't linearly develop an argument. It moves from high level 'wouldn't it be great ifs' to details and then back and forth repeatedly.
Sigh...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Putting a vital ingredient to sustainability squarely on the map, 2007-11-06
This book is an eye opener. the author does an excellent job at highlighting how the inherent limitations of both capitalist business and democratic multi-party governments in their current forms urgently need to be complemented by trusts that are constituted to have a long term mandate to protect ecological and community health as seed capital.
I agree that there are many complementary aspects such as ecological economics but feel that this book helps create a broader understanding of why trusts play such a vital role in moving beyond the dangers of centralized government and centralized big business.
A reviewer who claims that this book proposes any form of socialism seems to miss the point. Trusts are partially needed to prevent governments from taking short term populist decisions or over simplifying the quest for sustainability. Exactly because the author does not want to compromise the roles of business and government the author suggests trusts as a complementary force. If he was not a successful and convinced supporter of the free market he would reach different conclusions.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Finally someone thinks money isn't everything, 2007-03-21
I am enthusiascially asking you to take the leap and read this book. It is so refreshing to read words from someone who has made it "big", who also understands that that isn't all there is to being alive and well in America. The author clearly states that running a company that makes money is desirable and that that isn't the end of it. There are other considerations and other ways to impact the world than simply raking in the dough. I have long thought there was an ugly face to capitalism and it seemed to me I was the only one who saw it that way. It is comforting and reassuring to know I am not alone. Give it a try, okay? It won't hurt much and it helps to know there is a different way to see it all.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|