There was a time when we were told that technology would make our lives easier. In his new book, The Future of Success , former Labor Secretary Robert Reich posits that rather than making life simpler and workdays shorter, more technology means more frenzied lives, less security, more economic and social stratification, the loss of time and energy for family, friendship, community, and self.
Capitalism comes in a variety of forms.
The real question is how to get capitalism to respond to our needs and values rather than the other way around. A century ago, the Progressives set about the reform capitalism of that era and make it more humane. To an extent, they succeeded for that time. But capitalism has now shifted, given new technologies and globalisation, and it's time for a new progressivism. Some economic security, it seems to me, is appropriate given the wealth of our overall economy.