Hacker News Reader

Comment by jalcazar | Hacker News Reader

“Just Money: Banking as if Society Mattered” Available on edX and MIT OpenCourseWare

Putting money to a good use, caring about society and the environment.

Hmm. Thx for the recommendation. I'll have to check this one out. I just finished reading Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered." I suspect you might have gotten some of Schumacher's arguments in the course. I can't really recommend it unless you're super interested in hearing arguments from a mid-20th century economist in an era where intangibles had yet to dominate the financial world.

But this is something I'm interested in, so I'll have to check that course out.

What impact did it have on you. How did you change afterwards?

It made me realize there are ways for capitalism to be “ethical”, that not all banks are trying to make a profit at all costs and that there are investors that track and optimize for other metrics besides monetary returns, e. g., community impact.

Community impact is certainly one angle to consider capitalism from, but for me the most important and damning aspect is the investor-ownership of the means of production. I think the people doing the work should be the ones getting the profits for said work. I don't think it's right for anyone to claim ownership of another person's work. It's inherently antagonistic to have parasites built into the economy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com