The future of generalized security is bound up with rethinking economics and removing the cap on social security (now at $118K). If you earn $5 million, you only pay on the first $118K. When this anomaly is removed, social security will be solvent for 75 years and public spirit, trust between the generations, will return. Vancouver Canada with its 26 community centers is an example of public spirit that makes all the difference. The community centers serving as surrogate counseling and classroom possibilities have a cushioning and multiplying effect. Whether employed or unemployed, all people can feel at home in the community centers despite neoliberal ruthlessness and all-pervasive commodification.
The myths of the self-healing market, efficient financial markets, markets returning to equilibrium, speculation as harmless, money out of thin air, people lifting themselves up by their bootstraps and lazy Greeks and lazy unemployed must be abandoned. Lessons from the 2008 financial meltdown include shriveling the financial sector, establishing public banks (like North Dakota) and expanding the public sector. Without the social contract, we become wolves to one another with trust more distant than a star.
Cooperation and competition depend on each other. All personal achievement depends on state investment in roads, schools, hospitals, airwaves, food safety and water quality.
http://www.kickitover.org
http://www.alternativetrademandate.org
http://rosalux.gr/sites/default/files/publications/ttip_web.pdf
