oikonomia:
Thriving in the Relationship Economy »
authentic relationships, not fauxthentic.
“Love Economy”
Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it.
—
E. F. Schumacher
(August 16th, 1911 — Sept 4th, 1977)
Of many other things is salad an allegory. I foresee that it will be necessary to write a large and important book on Salad. But of one thing I may speak, since this again is not unconnected with the ethic defended here. Salad is a symbol of civilization; because salad is a balance. All the modern mistake about progress consists in the idea that it is an improvement to have indefinite increase in some definite thing. It is like a man who should seek perfection by pouring more and more oil into the salad. And I confess that, in reading current articles about True Christianity and the duty of Service, I do feel that our salads are getting a great deal too oily. I admit that some such mixtures in the past were much too sharp. But I confessed in a recent article that I have been re-reading Swift; and I think we want a little more vinegar.
Is Distributism Agrarianism? »
“All that Distributism really means, is that the majority of people rather than the minority are economically free and own their means of production. In the current situation, the bank has to infuse enough capital into society that can still be earned and paid back to it, leaving those who work running a hamster wheel in the real world to pay those who don’t work at all in the world of finance.”
Transition to Community investing, as I define it, remains committed to profitability, while recognizing shareholders as just one constituency. Employees, community, the environment, customers, and suppliers all contribute to building strong companies and deserve consideration in the allocation of revenues. There is a subtle, but critical, shift from an emphasis on maximizing profits to allocating revenues — to pay living wage salaries and engage in profit-sharing with employees, to restore and preserve physical resources, to support community activities, and to give customers and suppliers a “fair shake” now and over the long term. In so doing, Transition to Community investing takes an interest in economic value rather than in short-term profits for shareholders. It also views risk as an integrated proposition — a function of ecological limits as well as trust, relationships, and transparency.
—Leslie E. Christian, RSF Social Finance
If the great end of life were to multiply yards of cloth and cotton twist, and if the glory of England consists or consisted in multiplying without stint or limit these articles and the like at the lowest possible price so as to undersell all the nations of the world, well, then, let us go on. But if the domestic life of the people be vital above all; if the peace, the purity of homes, the education of children, the duties of wives and mothers, the duties of husbands and of fathers, be written in the natural law of mankind, and if these things are sacred, far beyond anything that can be sold in the market, then I say, if the hours of labour resulting from the unregulated sale of a man’s strength and skill shall lead to the destruction of domestic life, to the neglect of children, to turning wives and mothers into living machines, and of fathers and husbands into what shall I say, creatures of burden? I will not use any other word who rise up before the sun, and come back when it is set, wearied and able only to take food and to lie down to rest; the domestic life of men exists no longer, and we dare not go on in this path.
—Henry Edward Cardinal Manning 1808-1892, via Distributist Review
In the light of climate change, gender considerations, and effective pro-poor policies there have developed several policy preferences, one I call productivist and the other I call holist. One focuses mainly on increasing production, the other looks at the ecology, economy and social concerns of agriculture in development. My emphasis has been on the latter sustainable approach, whether focused on anti-trust or global food security, it fully appears to me that an appreciation of complexity calls for a long-term, nuanced approach.
—
Dave Andrews, Food and Water Watch, Interview May 7, 2010
