Multipolar Capitalism

Although money plays a key role in our lives, the workings of our monetary system are a mystery to most of us. ‘The Waterworks of Money’ by cartographer Carlijn Kingma is an attempt to demystify the world of big finance. It visualizes the flow of money through our society, its hidden power made manifest. If you see money as water, our monetary system is the irrigation system that waters the economy. The better the flow, the more prosperous society will be. Just as water makes crops thrive, so money sets the economy in motion. Or at least that’s the idea. In reality, inequality is growing in many countries and people are dealing with a ‘cost of living crisis’. Meanwhile, the progress with making our economies sustainable is stalling, and financial instability remains an ongoing threat. These problems cannot be seen in isolation from the architecture of our money system. If we truly want to tackle them, we will have to address the design flaws of our current money system. For more info check: https://www.waterworksofmoney.com or https://www.carlijnkingma.com For the Dutch version of the animation check: https://www.ftm.nl/waterwerk Current exhibitions: 'The Future of Money' at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 14 April, 2023 - 8 September 2023. 'Plumbing The System' at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, 20 May 2023 - 26 November 2023 The second animation video of this series will be released in September 2023. The Waterworks of Money is a collaboration of cartographer Carlijn Kingma, investigative financial journalist Thomas Bollen, and professor New Finance Martijn van der Linden. Kingma spent 2300 drawing hours, based on in-depth research and interviews with more than 100 experts –ranging from central bank governors and board members of pension funds and banks to politicians and monetary activists. The structure of our monetary system is not a natural phenomenon. We can choose to change its architecture. Designing the money system– and the laws and institutions that govern it–is ultimately a democratic task, and not a commercial or technocratic one. In practice, however, there is a major obstacle impeding the democratic process: financial illiteracy. By making finance and money needlessly complex, economists, bankers and tax specialists have turned most of us into ‘financial illiterates’. Everyone who doesn’t speak their financial jargon is excluded from the democratic debate on how our monetary system should work. The Waterworks of Money bypasses the financial jargon. It is an attempt to boost systemic financial literacy. Only if ordinary citizens develop their own vocabulary to participate in the debate about their financial future, can they tell their politicians which kind of ‘financial irrigation system’ they want. Authors: Carlijn Kingma, Thomas Bollen, Martijn Jeroen van der Linden Animation: Tiepes, Christian Schinkel, Cathleen van den Akker Narrator: Loveday Smith Translation: Erica Moore Voice recording: Huub Krom Music and sound: Rob Peters Photography: Studio OPPA Partners: Follow the Money, De Haagse Hogeschool, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Brave New Works, Rabobank, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Rijksmuseum Twenthe

Der Soziologe Stephan Lessenich erläutert in diesem Vortag die zentrale These seines Buches „Neben uns die Sintflut - Wie und warum wir über die Verhältnisse anderer leben"“. Menschen des globalen Nordens leben nicht nur auf Kosten künftiger Generationen, sondern auch aktuell auf Kosten von Menschen im globalen Süden.

In this lecture, Branko Milanovic gives an overview of the concept of inequality as conceptualized within the classical school of thought.

Anne-Kathrin Krug gibt eine Einführung in die marxistische Analyse der kapitalistischen Produktion und erläutert dabei Begriffe wie Arbeit, Ware oder Wert. Anschließend erläutert sie Marx Krisenzyklustheorie. Dabei stellt sie den Fall der Profitrate als mögliche Erklärung von Krisen dar, zeigt aber auch, dass es gegenläufige Tendenzen gibt. Weiter Themen des Vortrages sind Unterkonsumption und Möglichkeiten von Krisen (Produktions-, Handelskrisen und Geldkrisen).

Zum Auftakt des alljährlichen Wirtschaftstreffen in Davos im Januar 2020 trägt dieser 20-minütige Beitrag dazu bei, die Entwicklung vom Stakeholder-Kapitalismus hin zum Shareholder-Kapitalismus besser nachvollziehen zu können. Der Blick in die Geschichte, unterstützt mit Beispielen und Interviews, hilft dabei, die aktuelle prekäre wirtschaftliche Lage von Unternehmen wie die der Deutschen Bank und von General Electric zu verstehen. Am Ende des Beitrages wird die amerikanische Initiative (die B-Corporations), als Beispiel für eine sozialere und ökologischere Wirtschaftsweise mit mehr Verantwortung zum Allgemeinwohl vorgestellt.