Taming Global Capital

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:




Taming Global Capital
A network of market experts declares the global financial system a commons that should be governed accordingly.

By David Bollier


If one thing has become clear since the financial collapse of 2008, it is that some privileged players were abusing the system for their private, competitive advantage. They were, in the language of the commons, free riders. They could milk the system for unfair profits at the expense of everyone else.

Too bad so few politicians have the courage to say such things plainly. To help make clear that we all have a stake in the financial system and in the ongoing debates about policy reform, a multinational network of financial players have organized themselves as The Committee on Transforming Finance. The group recently issued a formal Statement declaring that the financial system is a global commons that should be governed accordingly.

The Statement is a great idea for re-framing debate and making clear that all sorts of excluded stakeholders should have a seat at the table in redesigning the global financial system. Naming the financial system as a commons makes clear that commoners have the right and duty to prevent abusive private takings of their vital shared resource – the legal rules, international agreements, information/communications infrastructure and other institutions that allow the allocation of capital. The system should be designed and managed to serve all stakeholders, including the diverse elements of civil society and ecosystems, whose intrinsic value is often ignored by global capital markets.

The Committee on Transforming Finance was co-convened by Hazel Henderson of Ethical Markets Media; John Fullerton’s Capital Institute; Professor Leo Burke of the Mendoza School of Business at Notre Dame; and Steve Waddell of Networking Action. The drafting committee for the Statement includes investors, asset managers, business executives, philanthropists, academics and financial authors. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/taming-global-capital

[KharmaTrain]

1. Our Politicians Rely On Those Big Spenders...

It's why financial reform is now stalled and could easily be cast aside should the rushpublicans gain more power in November. But it's not just the GOOP. In our non-stop campaign mode, the politicians need more and more money to keep their gigs and $10 and $25 dollar donations don't cut it.

Last night I saw an excellent Frontline program on the corruption of Greenspan, Rubin, Summers and Levitt in how in bed the financial "regulators" were with the "regulated" and how powerful the large banksters are in getting their way inside the beltway. As campaigns get more expensive the more the politicians will rely on the big check writers and the harder it will be to enact any meaningful reform that reigns in the gamblers on Wall Street.