Seven years ago, Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin observed that we were phasing out of "managerial capitalism". In their book: The Support Economy - Why corporations are failing individuals and the next episode of capitalism, they forecasted an explosion of small, customer-oriented, service start-ups. I've watched their prediction come true since then.The suburb I'm living in has dramatically increased the quantity of services offered by dog walkers, mobile dog groomers, fitness trainers, masseuses, seamstresses, home repair handymen, gift buyers, gourmet meal preparers, landscapers, junk removers and more. A parallel development has occurred online with all the free content that has been contributed to service our need for information, ratings, buyer's advice, entertainment, and links to related sources. Our sense to be of service to each other appears to have multiplied exponentially.
While all this has been occurring, the legacy economy has continued to favor the elite, defeat transparency, exploit vulnerabilities, speculate at others' expense, and exclude constituencies from economic considerations. This vanishing breed of managerial capitalism is doing a disservice to individual customers, local neighborhoods, regional economies and national stability.
As I watched their advocates make political pronouncements during the presidential election last fall, and the current debate of a stimulus package, it's apparent that they "don't get it". They have no clue how to be of service to us. Their impaired judgment of people as pawns in their system discounts the possibility of their "responding responsibly and reciprocating receptively". They way they think about government, taxation, spending, infrastructure, services and jobs -- appears well-suited to destroy their economic system while the next economy expands to take its place.
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