At some point on either Sunday or Monday, each week I think about how I will kick off the week's blog post. Usually I have a few ideas "marinating" & this morning was no different until I read an article by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman who is clearly one of the most thoughtful writers of our time. He suggests that maybe; just maybe, we are asking ourselves all the wrong questions about our current economic state of play. As usual he has a much bigger idea in mind.
Is Our Current Blueprint For Building Wealth Unsustainable
He suggests that perhaps the meltdown of 2008 is something far greater than a severe recession. Friedman speculates that over the last several decades it is quite possible that we have constructed a blueprint for growth that is economically & ecologically unsustainable and like the once badly defeated boxer Roberto Duran, our system has finally declared "no mas [no more]." Basically he posits that as a spend/replace society we have reached the nexus point of "Mother Nature & Father Greed" only to find one gigantic sign that reads "dead end." In terms of our worldwide assets, the wealth model we have used to date has been depletion based while we have not renewed or protected much so simply put, things now have to change. Friedman cites an Australian environmentalist Paul Gilding who has coined a name for this point in time: "the great disruption." I've got to admit that it's at least an interesting concept worthy of our consideration. Let's talk about it...
