Ep 417 - A New Spirit of Capitalism

Guest: Drew Erdmann

By Stuart McNish

“Even before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, the excesses of unchecked capitalism were manifest – what once seemed like a virtuous drive to maximise returns on investment for everyone came to seem like a race to the bottom. The wealthy got increasingly wealthy, workers’ wages stagnated, the environment suffered, and parts of many countries were left behind,” states a new book published by the Trilateral Commission, “A New Spirit of Capitalism.”

It is clearly time for a reset. The book’s authors go on to say, “The problems got harder to ignore once the first bubble popped.” And then came COVID-19 – a pandemic “which exposed weaknesses in globalisation’s relentless pursuit of low cost production; the crisis highlighted instead the value of supply chain security and resilience, and a collaboration between state and business,” emphasises co-author Drew Erdmann.

Erdmann goes on to point out, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates state and business can and do work together to mobilise assets and economies to serve strategic objectives.”

We invited Drew Erdmann to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the role and manner in which a “New Spirit of Capitalism” can address the issues of our times.