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Aggressive capitalism has come to an end

Ode founder, Jurriaan Kamp, is optimistic in these dark times because our economy will no longer be focused on making money.

Jurriaan Kamp, Editor-in-Chief.

Photo: Christopher Lucas

These are great times for optimism. You may feel insecure about the immediate economic future; the free fall on the stock exchanges may threaten your pension plans. Yet your future, our future, has never been brighter. Let me explain.

Since 1995, Ode has been at the forefront of positive change. For almost 14 years, we’ve been identifying opportunities to make our world a healthier, greener, happier and more just and sustainable place. We identified Muhammad Yunus and his work with microcredit as the best way to fight poverty long before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. We detailed how agricultural chemicals aren’t needed to produce food for the world population, and wrote about how a renewable energy economy is much closer than oil companies would have us believe.

Yet during all this time, many inspiring possible solutions that would greatly benefit humankind have faced the same challenge: to find a place in a financial system mostly, if not totally, focused on making money. In the past decade, even the exchange between doctors and patients has been measured monetarily. Efficiency has its place, and capitalism is a great system to facilitate human interaction. But a visitor from space would recognize that we’ve profoundly confused means and ends. As the Dutch poster I once saw said: “Human beings weren’t created to keep the economy going.”

So here’s the good news. That economic system, the Anglo-American type of capitalism, has come to an end. The world of turning profits with those dollars, disconnected from the fabric of life, has come to an end. As economist Noreena Hertz argues in this issue (see page 26), this doesn’t at all mean the end of capitalism, nor should it mean that. Different varieties of capitalism have previously struck a balance between the economic system and human needs. But somehow, the most aggressive variety, pushed by the money markets in New York and London, became the dominant one.

So this crisis brings a great opportunity. It allows us to revisit the order of priorities. That’s why in this issue we present a special report on “How to build a sustainable economy,” featuring the ideas of people like Hertz, who are at the vanguard of progressive economic thinking. Our headline on page 20, “Beyond the bottom line,” neatly summarizes the direction they seek in the best interests of us all.

The emergence of sustainable finance will bring with it many of the solutions for a healthier and greener world, and you can be sure Ode will be there to report on them. Yet it will take some time and adjustments to get there. In the short term, most of our lives will be impacted by bad economic news. The traditional giving spree in December may not be the same. But even on that front, this issue presents a promising solution: Try receiving for a change. It’s harder than giving, but it’s just as rewarding and will strengthen the bonds between you and your loved ones.

It’s in that spirit that all of us at Ode wish you a warm and inspiring month of December and–indeed–an optimistic new year.