The Capitalism Papers

Book excerpt: IS CAPITALISM STILL A VIABLE SYSTEM? A bestselling author explores its unsolvable environmental and social problems in this “bold, much-needed” argument for a new path forward (Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost). In the vein of his bestseller, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, nationally recognized social critic Jerry Mander researches, discusses, and exposes the momentous and unsolvable environmental and social problem of capitalism. Mander argues that capitalism is no longer a viable system: What may have worked in 1900 is calamitous now. Utterly dependent on never–ending economic growth, capitalism is an impossible absurdity on a finite planet with limited resources. Climate change, together with global food, water, and resource shortages, are only the start. Mander draws attention to capitalism’s obsessive need to dominate and undermine democracy, as well as to diminish social and economic equity. Designed to operate free of “morality,” the system promotes “permanent war” as a key economic strategy. Worst of all, the problems of capitalism are intrinsic to the form. Many organizations are already anticipating the breakdown of the system and are working to define new hierarchies of democratic values that respect the carrying capacities of the planet.