Everyone knows something is wrong. Over forty percent of the world's population lives in poverty. Our planet's resources are diminishing at frightening rates. The international financial system is broken and only serves to exacerbate the gap between the wealthy and the rest. We are at a crucial tipping point. Is there a way out of this mess? In Fusion Economics, Laurence Brahm presents an alternative way to the economic practices and thinking that brought us to this point. Holistic, yet grounded and straightforward, this revolutionary book calls for a turn away from an economic system dangerously steeped in ideology, stymied by politics, and prone to fomenting violence. As he examines where things went wrong, Brahm outlines a new global consensus based on pragmatism, common sense, and grass-roots realities that requires a profound change in values and different measurements of success. Drawing on his experience overseeing China's transformation from socialism to market economy and its current Green Growth National Policy, Brahm suggests a synergistic integration of western and eastern economic systems. He takes readers on a global journey, traveling with them to China's secretive halls of power where Brahm helps to convert rusty debt-ridden state enterprises into international corporations, the central banks of Vietnam and Laos, grass-roots social enterprises in the Himalayas, micro-finance schemes in Bangladesh, the secluded kingdom of Bhutan where Gross National Happiness is invented, massive rallies in Africa calling for a new approach to development that shocks multilateral institutions, indignant movements in Spain and Russia and the protests at Occupy Wall Street. Fusion Economics demonstrates how a clever combination of market planning, localized diversification, green energy, and finance for small and medium sized community enterprises can restructure our financial architecture into a more sustainable model. Fusion Economics is a must-read for anyone who wants to be on the vanguard of change to build a more adaptive, organic, and inclusive future. At once pragmatic and progressive, it holds the promise of a new economic reality with a heart, a mind and a soul.
Preface: Voice of the Voiceless Fed Up With Television Talking Heads? Listen to Voices in the Street Introduction: The Washington Consensus is Dead! We Need a New Consensus PART I: FUSION ECONOMICS Burying Ideology, Dumping Theory, Adopting Pragmatism and Local Wisdom from the Street (or Jungle) 1. Re-Engineering China Ending Ideology and Getting Pragmatic 2. Voodoo Economics Oust Outside Theory and Adopt Local Solutions 3. Red Guards with Credit Cards Merge Planning and Market the Fusion Way PART II: PRAGMATIC IDEALISM Compassionate Capital, Stakeholder Value and Social Enterprise 4. The Tao of Shangri-la Learning Social Enterprise from Nomads and Monks 5. The Positive Energy Bank Advanced Economics Taught by Tibetan Lamas and Bodhisattvas 6. Creating Shambhala Building a Social Enterprise On Top of the World PART III: DIVERSIFIED LOCALIZATION Empowering People Brings Sustainable Security 7. The Disempowerment Factor Stop Terrorism at Its Root 8. Himalayan Consensus Happiness, Micro-Finance and Community Development 9. African Consensus Community Empowerment to Prevent Violence PART IV: The New Earth Consensus Community Consciousness and Planetary Survival 10. Occupy Your Mind The Peaceful Revolution Comes to America 11. Re-Pioneering America Revitalizing Communities and the Green Economic Grid 12. The World is Not Flat Back to Basics, Local Diversity, and Community Capital Regeneration 13. From Russia with Fusion Economics Rise of BRICS, a New Settlement Currency and Development Bank 14. We Want a Future Community, Renewability, and Survival of the Adaptable 15. Environmental Economics Cutting Semantics, Creating Real Green Growth For Survival Conclusion The Post Occupy World: Imagine an Economy Without Greed