Dave and I went to the New York Presbyterian Church on Saturday to hear Rebecca Todd Peters' series of lectures entitled "Changing Direction: A Better World is Possible" this Saturday. Peters spent the morning defining the dominant neo-liberal and development models of globalization, which are both shaped by by neo-classical capitalist economics. She also defined economics as the science that looks at the exchange of goods and services, but pointed out that the dominant neo-classical models put exclusive emphasis on the exchange of money. Ricardo's model (upon which capitalism is built) was inadequate because when he spoke of "comparative advantage" he assumed unlimited resources. Today we live in a very different world.
In attempting to give some alternatives moving us toward an ethic of solidarity, Peters explained that we already are aware of and use many alternatives in our daily lives. In families and among friends we can act with a great deal of reciprocity without self-interest and motivated by care and compassion around exchanging goods and services. We pool resources, we share labor, and its benefits, etc. She gave a few more examples. Unfortunately the lectures did not end on Saturday, and on Sunday her sermon was to go into the ethic of solidarity in more depth. I was not able to return to hear the rest. I have more detailed notes for anyone who is interested.
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