Growth

Under the old bargain, we gave our labor and our lives in exchange for the safety and security of our families. This fiefdom morphed over time to the same type of bargain, replacing lords with corporate boards. They decided the value of our labor using “the market” as justification for deciding a fair rate of exchange: how many dollars for how much of our life.

Over the past 50 years, we’ve become more productive, but less secure. For every hour of work in the U.S., we create twice as much profit, but struggle more than before to afford basic needs. Where is that surplus going?

The old bargain said that our role was to show up and support the economy by trading our time and sweat for the agency to live: buy bread, have a home, raise a family, be entertained.

We were told labor leads to stability, but the market shows productivity is up and our relative stability is down.

We don’t need more growth, we need authorship.
Authorship is having influence and a real stake in the systems that shape your life. From the dirt outside your window to the policies so much bigger than any one of us.

This is a matter of priorities. We are asked to work in service to our economy. Who or what does our economy serve? How is it designed to hold and nurture our creative imaginations?

Tides and Promises

We see all around us the signals and promises of new technology and productivity revolutions. We live on a tech-crazy roller-coaster. At the same time, most of us are playing by an old set of agreements that the past 50 years show are broken. The status quo system does not have our best interests at heart; it is not designed to serve the flourishing of people or public goods, it is designed to serve the flourishing of private, concentrated capital.

We celebrate growth and dismiss inequity by saying “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In an era of rising tides, we have been anchored to broken promises.

Authorship

We built this system, and we can redesign it.

What would it look like if communities had a built-in stake, by design, in the developments and economic waves reshaping them?

You and your community
Should be able to show up in good faith
And be met
With the resource,
The agency,
To shape
Your future.

There is a story within you, as there is with your neighbors and community.
Economic infrastructure must use surplus to bring that story to life.

We don’t need more growth. We need authorship.

Who is already working on this where you are?

Where in your community are you being asked to move from participant to author?

What is one small way you could come alive in that role this week?

#ComeAlive