Greed Is Dead cover art

Greed Is Dead

Politics After Individualism

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Greed Is Dead

By: Paul Collier, John Kay
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The idea that people are basically driven by individualism and economic incentives and that prosperity and good societies come from top-down leadership has dominated politics for the last 30 years (from some perspectives, much longer).

This book shows that the age of homo economicus and centralisation is coming to an end. Instead, Collier and Kay argue that community and mutuality will be the drivers of successful societies in the future - as they are already in some parts of the world. They show how politics can reverse the move to extremes of right and left in recent years, that the centre can hold and that if we think differently we can find common ground to the benefit of all.

©2020 Paul Collier, John Kay (P)2020 Penguin Audio Economics Politics & Government Theory Socialism Taxation Capitalism Liberalism

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All stars
Most relevant
Well worth reading, as the world is on the cusp of a new era, away from the industrial and all too individualistic societies to technological change that opens up new opportunities for localized and distributed production.

Refreshing rethink of the way economies work

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This book has been very enlightening and highly thought provoking. In a world so polarized between market and state, left and right, the idea of empowering community and building a society based on mutual reciprocity makes so much sense. A must read for politicians, policymakers and practitioners.

Brilliant book and very well read

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I should have stopped listening to this rambling, meandering ''Drunken Grandpa Rant' of a book the moment that I heard the authors use the term 'Woke' without irony. I should have stopped when they condemned the entire concept of Human Rights as selfish and self-serving individualism. And I *Definitely* should have stopped when the authors went out of their way to claim that Trans Activism is as bad as Trumpism and to condemn the charity Mermaids on three separate occasions.

Instead though, I carried on listening to this bizarre, 'Drunken Grampa Rant' of a book in case it actually had a point to make. But while there are some interesting and insightful sections here and there, the reason why I condemn it as a 'Drunken Grandpa Rant' is that whenever it seems to make a point, it shifts gears and then either witters on endlessly about something else which the authors insist is also a symptom of 'Individualism,' or about how ''Communities Are Good Actually,' as if the fact that humans are social creatures is some earth shattering revelation. And like all self-proclaimed 'Moderate' old, white, cis-gendered men who claim to be 'Neither Left Nor Right,' the authors' tepid and reformist criticism of 'Free Market Capitalism' pales in comparison to the seething hatred and contempt that they express for #Woke 'Leftist' Activism.

Indeed, it's bitterly ironic that the vague, half-remembered aim of this book is to advocate for a return to 'Communitarianism,' including 'Community Activism,' 'Community Organising' and communities taking control of things such a local energy production, transport and what have you. All of which are being pursued, championed and achieved by the supposedly evil #Woke 'LEFTIST ACTIVISTS' who are apparently only motivated by self-serving attention seeking and egotism. But of course, these aging, white, male economists apparently only know about #Woke 'Leftist Activists' through what they've read in the Daily Heil or heard on the Faux News propaganda network, which amounts to little more than yelling at kids to get off their lawn. Because God Forbid that authors actually 'LEARN' something about the people they're condemning before writing a book about them!

Even if you leave all of that aside though or even eagerly embrace the condemnation and vilification of #Woke Activism and Human Rights, this book still has nothing to offer beyond some intriguing but ultimately useless analysis of past events. And even then, the authors were merely cherry picking anything which they could strawman as examples for their overarching thesis that everything bad is caused by the bogeyman of ''Individualism.' For example, mentioning the high rates of depression and suicide amongst young people without any mention of how the Hyper Capitalist Gig Economy has utterly destroyed all financial security; something which the #Woke Left is fighting to rectify while the grumpy old white men who condemn them do nothing but blame the #Woke Left.

As a matter of fact, the #Woke 'Leftist' book by a Black Lesbian that I read before this one was far more useful and informative on these issues, both practically and academically. So unless you want to hear two grumpy old white men ramble endlessly about how everything bad is caused by 'Individualism' and marvel at their mental gymnastics as they struggle to fit everything they hate under that umbrella, then I'd strongly recommend giving this book a miss. And yes, I do mean ramble endlessly, because although this book is quite short, every time that I 'Thought' they were wrapping up, they just moved on to the next topic; once again, like a 'Drunken Grandpa Rant.'

Rule Number One Of The Holiday Season: Keep Grandpa Away From The Sherry!

Mum!... Grandpa's Got Into The Sherry Again!

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I couldn't get past the second chapter where they talk about rights, because their treatment of the subject is so utterly asinine it was making me want to punch things. I don't normally get punchy. Also bonus points for the random boomer transphobia in that same chapter. "The rights of transgender people seem to necessarily infringe on the rights of women"... what is this, mumsnet?

Started good, quickly deteriorated

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