Excellent analysis of how power, profit, and austere control are the current ruling paradigms of economics , national governments and the larger “global reach” corporations. These paltry and woefully insufficient ideas and philosophy are precisely what is at the heart of our monetary and economic problems, and what a new philosophy and paradigm of Grace in all of its natural conceptual aspects and specifically in economic policies reflecting its aspect of monetary Gifting would balance. No need for everyone to “get balanced” beforehand. Paradigms and zeitgeists mold individuals’ thinking, and if we had Gifting as the primary one even more than the 90% of us who find purpose even under an onerous system would undoubtedly do the same.

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Neil,

This is why the particularities of regulation and the philosophy behind it are so important. Sovereignty, national sovereignty, is utterly important for control of the system and yet the philosophy behind the governmental control must also be looked at and graciously “governed” and “controlled”,….and then policies aligned with that philosophy. Sovereignty is an aspect of grace as in power as in “Your Grace” (benevolent leadership) and “Your Sovereign Grace” (power modulated by grace/ethical consideration). Grace as in individual freedom(s) and systemic free flowingness are the monetary and economic policies that are necessarily aligned with a philosophy of Grace/graciousness. Everything proceeds from conscious awareness, thought, mind, philosophy. The broader, more inclusive and more ethical the philosophical concept the more translatable its aspects to Life and Living. Modernity like the Classical period before it has become way too unbalanced and biased, and an integration, a modern, natural economic re-integration of the classical concepts is necessary because the neo-classical sysnthesis was/is a false/incomplete one.

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Steve,
talking about traditional virtues of thrift and industriousness, may i point you to a very classic masterpiece in Russian literature, The Gambler by F. Dostoevsky (http://www.operatoday.com/documents/The_Gambler.pdf); there you will find a clear description of “the German method of growing rich” (For a minimal context you can start at page 24, “I think that roulette was devised specially for Russians”).

The current ruling business model is imposed by those who are the strongest: they self-define themselves as a model of virtue that all the other countries should follow, and their policy is “no mercy”.

The only pacific solution would require Germany to lower their commercial surplus both by increasing salaries for their workers (but they are encouraging syrian refugees to enter their country with the main goal of further lowering those salaries) and by importing goods and services from EU periphery (but they have just started another currency war by ordering ECB – surprise! Guess who drives decisions of the “Independent Central Bank”? – to devaluate the Euro so they can export even more).
In a few words, “beggar thy neighbor” is their way of life; they are obtusely sawing off the branch they’re sitting on, and we are under the tree.
Their hubris will be punished with our nemesis, and I think this is very wrong.
As “The Who” wrote in “Tommy”, they are fiddling about, but we’re not gonna take it.

By the way I read the Dostoevsky piece and having the last name of Hummel it dovetails perfectly and quite accurately with the mindset of my own German-American upbringing. Something I have spent a goodly amount of my adult life internally overcoming. I think a third integrated alternative to the Russian and German Duality would be the best. (And no, that alternative is not the French perspective. 🙂