The three-year-old in me has been increasingly restless. You know the three-year-old I’m talking about, full of why’s – why is the sky blue? Why did my goldfish die?  Well, my three-year-old me is full of questions about the “Economy”, among them are these:

• Why is the economy based on competition?
• Why isn’t the economy based on cooperation?
• Why do we think the economy needs to, and can, grow forever?
• Why is it acceptable to market scarcity to separate individuals from their money?
• Why must we pay for food that grows in nature for free?
• Why is housekeeping and caregiving not considered valuable labor?
• If pay reflects the value an individual brings to work, why do we value the people who care for our children, parents, teachers, and caregivers so little?
• Why hasn’t “rational economic man”, a construct who makes decisions based on the rational analysis of potential and desired outcomes and acts in his (or her) own rational self-interest, introduced by Scottish economist Adam Smith over 250 years ago, been put to death?
• Money did not arise from the economists’ imaginary world of calculated, interest-maximizing barter – how then did it arise?
• Why is behavioral economics focused on persuading people to buy more, not identify and satisfy their needs?
• If most economists believe Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is a poor indicator of economic activity, why aren’t we developing and promoting different measures?
• The “Cost of living Index” – think about it.

Instead of only bashing the existing economic system, which I believe is dying due to the diseases of scarcity, inequality, ecological despoliation, standardization, and depersonalization it has nurtured, I have other questions as well.

• What would an economic system look like that, like some ancient cultures, rewarded generosity?
• What new scientific, religious, or psychological paradigms might arise in the context of a different kind of money?
• What if people owned only items that met their daily needs, and had access to the items to help them meet their occasional needs?
• What would the economy look like if it were localized?
• What would an economic system look like where money was secondary to gifting?

This isn’t just my three-year-old venting, though he’s now ready for a nap – I’d love to engage in a conversation about any or all of these questions.  Your thoughts?