David C. Korten Books

The book critiques the financial bailouts following the economic meltdown, highlighting their ineffectiveness in addressing systemic failures. Korten argues that Wall Street's practices, such as speculative trading and predatory lending, contributed to the crisis. In this revised edition, he assesses progress and setbacks since the first release, emphasizing a shift towards Main Street and real wealth. A new chapter discusses the Obama administration's failure to tackle the underlying issues, suggesting that without change, economic, social, and environmental crises will persist.

Kortens classic bestseller When Corporations Rule the World outlined the destructive and oppressive nature of the global corporate economy. In this work, he argues that corporate consolidation of power is merely one manifestation of what he calls Empire--the organization of society through hierarchy and violence.

When Corporations Rule the World has become a modern classic. Korten's warnings about the growing global power of multinational corporations seem prophetic today. This new edition has been revised throughout to make it more accessible to the general reader, and features a new introduction, a new epilogue, and three new chapters. While Korten points out that the multinationals are, if anything, more powerful now than they were when he first wrote the book, he also offers reason for hope: the growth of the international Living Democracy movement opposing corporate rule. The new material in the book: Documents the consolidation since 1995 of financial and corporate power at the expense of democracy, people, communities, and the planet Looks in depth at the nature and cultural underpinnings of the burgeoning Living Democracy movement to resist corporate power Offers a vision of a what a civil society grounded in life-centered values rather than immediate financial gain might look like.

Focusing on the pressing global issues highlighted by the 1998 UN Conference on Human Settlements, the book critiques governments for neglecting critical problems like hunger, housing shortages, and environmental degradation. It delves into the root causes of these crises and presents innovative solutions centered on sustainability, community, and equity, advocating for principles essential to securing a healthier future for humanity.

David Korten critiques the prevailing narrative of "Sacred Money and Markets," which values money above all and views Earth merely as a resource. He argues that this story leads to ethical, scientific, and economic failures, fostering inequality and environmental harm. In response, Korten proposes a new narrative centered on "Sacred Life and Living Earth," emphasizing our interconnectedness with the universe and the necessity of an economy that supports the Earth's life systems. His vision promises transformative change for humanity's future and well-being.

In this book, David Korten makes a compelling and well-documented case that capitalism's claims to being the engine of wealth creation, the champion of democracy, and the embodiment of the market economy are unfounded. Among Korten's conclusions: Capitalism is a pathology that afflicts democracies and market economies in the absence of vigilant public oversight. The consolidation of economic power under a handful of global mega-corporations is a victory for central planning - not the market economy. The alternative to the new global capitalism is a planetary system of democratically governed market economies that honor basic market principles of the sort actually advocated by Adam Smith.