ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the policies that are needed to decommoditize the economy, and the social movement required to create the conditions in which these policies can be adopted and implemented. Commoditization as a force shaping economic and social relations is a natural outcome of the release of creative energy for personal wealth production. The most effective defense that a society has against the continued spread of commoditization and the primacy of private over public interests is a healthy civic life. Globalization of economic development and investment makes it nearly impossible for weak governments and underdeveloped economies to act alone to protect their economies from capital flight and currency speculation. Government’s ability to raise revenues and to spend those revenues gives government the capacity to shape the economy. Government policy in most modern societies affects the availability and price of credit through its taxing, spending policies, and its control over the money supply.
