Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy.

Wall Street sees a social fabric or social contract as inefficiencies, which need to be removed.

An active propaganda machinery controlled bv the world's largest corporations constantly reassures us that consumerism is the path to happiness, governmental restraint of market excess is the cause our distress, and economic globalization is both a historical inevitability and a boon to the human species.

As an economy measures performance in terms of the creation of money, people become a major source of inefficiency.

But we can also take the radical view that the test of an economy has to do with the extent to which it is providing everybody with a decent means of living.

So, there is enormous instability in the global economy with a shift of winners and losers.

More humane societies are usually smaller, like the Scandinavian countries and Holland, where it is much easier to reach consensus and cooperation.