The Big Zero

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: December 28, 2009

Let’s bid a not at all fond farewell to the Big Zero — the decade in which we achieved nothing and learned nothing.Click here

Op-Ed: Seven Principles to help heal the planet | JTA – Jewish & Israel News

The director of The Shalom Center implores grassroots action on healing the climate crisis using Seven Principles that should underlie Jewish and interfaith efforts to shape U.S. and world policy.

Cancer Care fall 2009

Investing 2009

A Time to Give 2009

In order to spend or save, most of us have to trade our time for money. Because our time is, in fact, our life, we’re trading the single most valuable resource we have for whatever we turn our money into. If we turn it into something that gives us joy in good measure, we’re living life well.

That’s true whether we spend our money now or save it to spend later. There are people who default to buying more stuff, or living a more luxurious lifestyle today; there are people whose primary pleasure comes from accumulating savings and investment.

For me, real freedom comes from reducing my need for money now and in the future. I love stuff, believe me — I love my iPod and nice clothes and (especially) eating great food. But I treasure my time, and as a result, I am very frugal. There are some things I don’t stint on: it gives me a lot of pleasure to support my favourite charities, and I try to buy organic food when I can. But I’ve learned to be a smart thrift store/Craigslist shopper, and I love being part of the Freecycle community.

For me, it’s not about money at all. It’s about having as much life in my life as possible.

How about you? What’s the perfect balance in your life?

One of the ideas that occurred to me as a result of the insights offered by people around the table is that while change is the only constant, we are challenged to deal with the often surprising products of change. (Credit derivatives change; the unexpected product is the financial crisis.) And with any change, some people are affected more than others. Those who are affected least are those who have the most resources, which make them the most resilient. Therefore, if we want to be a society that evolves in the direction of change mastery, which seems to be at the heart of innovation, it seems we have to first address issues of income disparity and strong social safety nets.

As has become clear during the financial crisis, corporate safety nets can be too encouraging to innovation — but in the larger world, social safety nets allow people to make investments in things like education and job training, preparing them to respond to change products in a creative way.

What do you think?