A Declaration of Independence from Wall Street

Offers bold economic reforms that attack the underlying cause of the current economic collapse, not just it’s symptoms

A radical but achievable program that restores and builds on the fundamental strengths of the American economy

Cover of Korten, Agenda for a New Economy

C-Span Book TV's "Top Nonfiction Authors and Books."

Agenda for a New Economy wias launched on January 23, 2009, just after the Obama inauguration, at a national theological conference sponsored by the historic Trinity Church, located in the heart of Wall Street. See my report and related interviews on PBS NOW with David Broncaccio and Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales. See also the presentation at Elliot Bay Books discussing the background and message of Agenda featured on C-Span 2 Book TV "Top Nonfiction Authors and Books."

Today’s economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression. However, as David Korten shows, the steps being taken to address it – including pouring trillions of dollars into bailouts for the Wall Street institutions that created the mess – do nothing to deal with the reality of a failed economic system. It’s like treating cancer with band aids. And the financial collapse now in the public spotlight is only the tip of the iceberg. The system’s social and environmental failures may ultimately be even more destructive.

Korten identifies the deeper sources of the failure: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating phantom “wealth” without producing anything of real value. Its major players engage in speculative trading, buy into asset bubbles, create debt pyramids, and engage in predatory lending practices. Their seeming success created an economic mirage that led us to believe the economy was expanding exponentially, even as our economic, social, and natural capital eroded and most people struggled ever harder to make ends meet.

What Others Are Saying About Agenda for a New Economy

Endorsements from Notable Figures

A View from Kenya

Bold Proposal for a New Economy" a review by John Cavanangh

Review by Steven Chapman

Review by Gene Marshall

The story behind the book

The story from the perspective of Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Our hope lies not with Wall Street, Korten argues, but with Main Street, which creates real wealth from real resources to meet real needs. He outlines an agenda to liberate the latent entrepreneurial energies of Main Street from Wall Street’s deadly grip and bring into being a new economy—locally based, community-oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all, not simply increasing profits. It will require courageous and imaginative changes to how we measure economic success, organize our financial system, even the very way we create money. Korten outlines a challenging, but practical agenda summarized at the end of the book in his version of the economic address to the nation he wishes Barack Obama were able to deliver.

Korten’s intention is not to offer final answers, but rather to provoke discussion of options that powerful interests prefer not be mentioned. These interests devised the system that has brought us to the brink of ruin. It’s time to turn away from the Wall Street system of phantom wealth and return to an economy firmly rooted in the long-term health of people and the planet.

Contents
Preface

Join Our Email List

User login

Affiliated Websites

AGENDA FOR A NEW ECONOMY: FROM PHANTOM WEALTH TO REAL WEALTH

A Declaration of Independence from Wall Street

PART I: The Case for a New Economy

PART II: The Case for Eliminating Wall Street

PART III: Agenda for a Real-Wealth Economy

PART IV: Change the Story, Change the Future