The Rockland Group

You are invited to read and discuss William Greider’s new book,

The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

Greider, 40 years a journalist for Frontline, The Washington Post, The Nation and even Rolling Stone, asks the question, “Is corporate capitalism failing us?” His answer is yes. His quest is how do we save it?

He frames the issues by acknowledging that capitalism has brought massive material rewards. But his basic view is that we are in a new era right now where “Imperial Capital” is “consuming our future” on earth, looting pension funds, committing many more such dysfunctions and becoming culturally toxic. His solutions? Neither “activist government nor populist politics,” despite his sympathy for same.

He wants the system changed by a fundamental realignment of power, and he sees leverage for reform in a variety of efforts already underway. American capitalism, in that sense, still has the soul that it once had when it had Americanvalues at its heart. Capitalism must be subordinated

once again to those values. We must “align capitalism more faithfully and obediently with what people want and need,” he says.

In other words, “a moral economy” must be created in which capitalism serves us rather than rules us. Thinking forward, he calls for both “old” public works and “new” more sustainable businesses, and he endorses a variety of new ideas now growing in appeal.

Greider’s book opens up the set of basic issues just below the surface of many news stories. As the jacket claims, it is “Solid, pragmatic, visionary, optimistic, [and] addresses the nation’s most urgent needs.”

SO, PLEASE JOIN US* for a free 8 to 10-session book discussion, beginning November 10 or as soon as enough of us can get the book (available $20-28). We usually meet each Monday at the Rockland Public Library, 6:15-8:00 sharp but with week breaks as we see fit. FMI: call Matt @ 594-6453OR Lloyd @596- 7607. AND ONLY IF you are coming, please call for sure, in that we will need to rent larger space from the Library. Meanwhile, see reviews at Amazon.com, but please buy local.

We* are a new study and discussion group, now “The Rockland Group.” Our aim is:” to discover and implement, in interaction with other groups, solutions which improve our democracy and quality of life for all.” Founding members are Matt Clarke, Gary Beckwith, and Lloyd Gillespie and others. A local website that Lloyd has created is: MacroMouse. It is current on international finance and has high quality capsule segments and sources for the debate among the world’s experts on corporate responsibility and financial concentration that underlay each day’s news. See the site for an essay by Greider from The Nation.