THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

The problem is that nobody convinced the global giants to become
socially responsible. Last century, big business was trying to bend the
rules. Now, there are no rules, except the ones they create. "You have
to ask whether big business and representative organisations like
ours are likely to handle power in a benign way." Tim Melville Ross
had warned back in the 1990s, 'and it is by no means certain that they
will." He had thought disclosure and public scrutiny would be
enough to ensure good behaviour. Glen Peters, too, had argued that
the consumer was mom powerful than the biggest company. The
public had boycotted businesses they didn't like, but this inane
approach could hardly work. Big business, after all, also controls
most of the information people were getting - directly, by ownership
of the media, or indirectly, through the influence of the advertising
money. It had also managed to colonise almost all of the cybersphere.
'Then there is always the uncontrolled component, the cyberunderground,
at the leading edge of the backlash. By comparison, the
earlier IRA bombing in London were a picnic. Who would have
thought that weapons of mass disruption would replace weapons of
mass destruction? The stock market crazes launched underground by
the hackers, disrupted payment systems, commercial aircraft
colliding in the skies, mis-tracked commuter trains crashing into
freight trains. And when any of these mass disruptions occur, no one
can call an ambulance - the 999 network has been blown apart by a
computer virus. And the older forms of violence still pose a threat.
Even Bill Gates, with all his bodyguards, could not avoid being
blown up along with his armoured car.
'But what should one expect when a third of the population,
including many of our brightest kids, cannot find a job, have no room
at our collective table, do not fit into the increasingly paranoid
business world? The backlash against soft-hearted people in the
business world has been harsh. Women have been singled out for not
understanding that this is a tough world, mat business is at war with