{"id":2158,"date":"2025-12-24T09:20:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T09:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyalleys.com\/?p=2158"},"modified":"2025-12-24T09:23:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T09:23:44","slug":"the-case-for-change-the-case-for-inclusive-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skyalleys.com\/index.php\/artificial-intelicence\/the-case-for-change-the-case-for-inclusive-capitalism\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for Change, The case for Inclusive Capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Value Is a Choice, Inclusive Capitalism Is the Correction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every economic system is defined by what it chooses to treat as value<\/em>. Feudalism measured land. Industrial capitalism measured money. Late\u2011stage capitalism now measures money faster than reality can keep up. Capitalism\u2019s defining metric, money, has ceased to function as a reliable nominator of value because it has detached itself from productivity, human experience, and social well-being. When the metric fails, optimisation becomes destructive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As biologist Edward O. Wilson warned,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.\u201d\u00b9<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This synthesises the fundamental challenge: our social and economic systems lag behind our technological capacity<\/strong>, and capitalism\u2019s fixation on profit accelerates that mismatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is worth repeating:<\/em> The current system prioritises profit at the expense of societal and environmental well-being. In short, it prioritises money at the expense of sustainability in the never-ending quest for higher growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusive capitalism <\/strong>emerges not as a moral upgrade, but as a structural correction<\/strong>. It recognises that when a system\u2019s measurement no longer reflects lived reality, optimisation no longer promotes stable or equitable outcomes. Inclusive capitalism expands the definition of value to include stakeholders, long-term outcomes, and human well-being, thereby addressing the systemic distortions created by prioritising money above all else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money was supposed to measure value. Somewhere along the way, it got a little self-important.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Mercantile to Industrial to Financial Capitalism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The story of capitalism begins with mercantile capitalism<\/strong>, emerging in Europe from the late Middle Ages. City-states like Venice, Genoa, and Florence developed advanced trade networks, credit systems, and financial innovations such as double-entry bookkeeping and early banking structures. Mercantile capitalism was centred on commerce and exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Industrial Revolution<\/strong> (18th\u201319th centuries) marked a shift toward mechanisation, wage labour, and industrial production. Capital became increasingly abstracted from land and labour, emphasising returns and efficiency at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 20th century, economist Milton Friedman formalised a new phase of capitalism: shareholder primacy<\/strong>. In The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits<\/a><\/em>, Friedman argued that corporate managers\u2019 primary responsibility is to maximise returns for shareholders, not broader societal outcomes.\u00b2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholarship on techno-feudalism<\/strong> argues that modern capitalism retains structural similarities to feudal systems: both concentrate power in a small elite, and both create hierarchies where the lower classes receive a disproportionately smaller share of benefits.\u00b3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land stayed put. Money learned to conquer and became a social obsession.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedman and Shareholder Primacy: Turning Points in Value Measurement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Friedman did not invent profit-seeking, but he canonised it<\/strong>. By elevating shareholder value above all other corporate objectives, he elevated money from a tool into the scoreboard<\/em> by which success is judged. Externalities like employee well-being, environmental cost, and human time were treated as irrelevant to the score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This single-metric focus made systems efficient at accumulating money but inefficient at sustaining human or ecological life. In effect, money became both ruler and master, divorced from the realities of those whose labour it measured. Inclusive capitalism<\/strong> exists largely as a corrective: an attempt to put the amputated limbs of human and social value back on the economic body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up during the Great Depression understandably makes money feel like oxygen. The problem starts when you try to breathe it alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Current State: Asset Inflation, Inequality, and the Moving Carrot<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Modern capitalism does not just reward ownership; it inflates the value of ownership<\/strong> faster than the value of labour or productivity. According to research from the McKinsey Global Institute, global wealth is approximately $600\u202ftrillion, Yet much of its growth over the past two decades has come not from real investment but from asset price inflation. More than a third of the increase in wealth since 2000 consists of valuation gains detached from the real economy; only about 30\u202fpercent reflects genuine productive investment.\u2074<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This creates a moving carrot economy<\/strong>: wages stagnate relative to asset prices, making financial independence increasingly unattainable for those without existing wealth. Individuals labour more hours and save more diligently, yet the price of housing, equities, and capital-linked assets continually outpaces their gains. Effort, diligence, and saving are no longer sufficient pathways to economic security or upward mobility; ownership matters more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Isaac Asimov observed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.\u201d\u2075<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In economic terms, this means that financial innovation and market complexity have outpaced society\u2019s ability to govern them in ways that produce equitable outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dynamic is destabilising because money, when detached from real productivity and life outcomes, no longer measures what it is supposed to. The system rewards speculation and price appreciation, not contribution or human flourishing. The result is inequality, precarity, and a sense that the rules of the game are fundamentally rigged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carrot is always visible. Financial freedom remains a mirage.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusive Capitalism in Practice: The Spine of Reform<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Inclusive capitalism reframes value to include employees, communities, environmental health, and long-term outcomes<\/strong> alongside financial returns. It is not a utopian dream; it is a practical framework<\/strong> for correcting distortions created by singularly profit-oriented capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bo Burlingham\u2019s Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big documents examples of companies that deliberately reject relentless growth in favour of purpose, community, and quality.\u2076 These firms remain profitable while prioritising meaningful outcomes like employee well-being and strong local impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusive capitalism thus provides a roadmap<\/strong> for embedding time, well-being, and sustainability as formal metrics rather than afterthoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out \u201cbigger\u201d is not the same as \u201cbetter.\u201d Who knew, besides furniture makers?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time as Value: Operationalising a New Nominator<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Time<\/strong> is finite; money is not. That simple fact makes time a more reliable anchor for value in human-centred systems. Valuing time does not mean abolishing money, but rather co-nominating it alongside money<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n