The World Economic Forum’s “Global Risks Report 2016” was published on January 14, 2016 with little media fanfare, but it addresses very serious global issues facing all nations over the next decade.
A review of 29 risks identified in the report reveals 9 of them to be directly associated with money while another 17 (or 90% of all risks) can be reasonably argued to be linked to money. If you needed evidence that money was rooted in many of humanity’s problems, then I cannot think of anything more compelling.
The report goes on to suggest that we should develop resilience in response to these issues, but I would suggest differently. If we did away with money entirely, then 90% of our problems would be resolved. To develop resilience would be to continue accepting money as a supporting framework for society, but I assert that this will only serve to perpetuate rather than solve these global problems.
Our reliance for millennia on money as a means to an end has brought us to the edge of environmental and societal precipices. Do we have to go over the edge to realize that there is a problem?
Given humanity’s nature not to be proactive, perhaps that is where we’re headed.
