(2009-03-16) Rushkoff Let It Die

Douglas Rushkoff concludes that we should welcome the Credit Crisis 2008-driven implosion of the Corporatism economy started during the Renaissance, to let the Network Economy move forward. It may be the fastest and least violent way to dismantle a system set in place for the benefit of 14th Century monarchs who have long since left this earth. If the corporate Super Market chain's debt structure renders it incapable of stocking its shelves this spring, this may be the wake-up call that consumers need to finally subscribe to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer. If the former associate fund analyst at Lehman realizes that he is unable to get a job not just because his industry is contracting but because his work day creates no real value for anyone at all, he will be forced to learn how to do something that does. If an urban elite parent realizes he can longer pay Private School tuition for his kids, maybe he'll consider donating to Public School the time he would have spent earning that tuition.

Follow-up - We should hack Money. We should hack banking. We should hack business. This doesn't necessarily mean hacking the dollar, which is just one kind of closed source currency. We should hack money by coding new kinds. Bank hacking has been around for a long time--it's just that credit unions and other local or community-based bank models were driven down by the anti-competitive practice of banking conglomerates. It's time for those institutions to be renewed, as well.