The Making of a Democratic Economy: How to Build Prosperity for the Many, Not the Few

By: Marjorie Kelly, Ted Howard

Narrated by: Tiffany Williams

Our economy is designed by the 1 percent, for the 1 percent. This audiobook offers a compelling vision of an equitable, ecologically sustainable alternative that meets the essential needs of all people.

We live in a world where 26 billionaires own as much wealth as half the planet’s population. The extractive economy we live with now enables the financial elite to squeeze out maximum gain for themselves, heedless of damage to people or planet. But Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard show that there is a new economy emerging focused on helping everyone thrive while respecting planetary boundaries.

At a time when competing political visions are at stake the world over, this audiobook urges a move beyond tinkering at the margins to address the systemic crisis of our economy. Kelly and Howard outline seven principles of what they call a Democratic Economy: community, inclusion, place (keeping wealth local), good work (putting labor before capital), democratized ownership, ethical finance, and sustainability. Each principle is paired with a place putting it into practice: Pine Ridge, Preston, Portland, Cleveland, and more.

This audiobook tells stories not just of activists and grassroots leaders but of the unexpected accomplices of the Democratic Economy. Seeds of a future beyond corporate capitalism and state socialism are being planted in hospital procurement departments, pension fund offices, and even company boardrooms.

The road to a system grounded in community, democracy, and justice remains uncertain. Kelly and Howard help us understand we make this road as we walk it by taking a first step together beyond isolation and despair.

©2019 Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard (P)2019 Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard

Rapid deployment needed

Rapid deployment of these evidence-based approaches are needed now, not sometime in the future. The US and UK can create the policy environment to lead the way. The people currently in government must muster the will and moral ethic to extract themselves from corporate influence. If they can't, then We the People must vote them out of office and replace them with progressive minded representatives to move the transformation forward.