Last week, the World Economic Forum will began in New York City, our nation?s economic center. About 3000 delegates attended this invite-only event, each paying $7,300 to attend, and the corporations that sponsor them pay $17,500 annually to be members of the WEF. 4000 police also attended the streets of New York City to maintain “peace” from the several thousand protesters who convened to create their own “joyful, creative resistance” outside, and in town hall meetings and at their own counter forum at Columbia University.

This is big. I don?t precisely know what happens in the WEF, when some of the world?s economic elite gather. I?m not allowed to attend. CNN tells me that they are working on the world recession, and addressing issues such as peace and poverty.

Well, they have been meeting for a while now, and my world seems to be having wars. I also know that the majority of the United States is laden with credit woes and unable to buy a home. Perhaps the world of the corporate elite has peace, spare money, and the luxury to debate the outcome of other?s lives.

The world economic machine drives the socio-political turns of nations. The Gross Domestic Product usually measures the system of models that we have set up, based on growth, products and waves of money circulating in the world. The GDP measures things like how many cars were sold from American manufacturers, the rise in commodities process, and how much extra money was circulated through a nation?s economy. Because of this broad accounting, the $2 billion spent on cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil spill boosted our GDP. In fact, when you call an ambulance for a sick relative, our economy gains. Here we see that progress: more stuff, more money, includes personal and societal catastrophes.

Economist Robert Heilbroner wrote, “Before economics can progress it must abandon its suicidal formalism.” I think this is what the protestors in New York, Melbourne, and Porto Alegre, Brazil are calling for. We can no longer base progress on on growth, but we must insert some of the negatives into the equation. The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare, created by Herman Daly and John Cobb, includes pollution, depletion of non-renewables, and car-exhaust related health costs. According to the ISEW, there has been no improvement since the 1970s, and in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, the levels have been falling. That sounds more accurate to my reality.The second World Social Forum in Porto Alegre is the counter balance to the WEF. It brings together journalists, scientists, and governmental workers to discuss what the WEF leaves out. This includes the environmental degradation due to industrialization, poverty becoming enhanced due to globalization, and unique, community-based methods for alleviating individuals of catastrophic burdens. This is a start, which is unfortunately thousands of miles away from the WEF.

The WEF web-site describes itself as a “unique club atmosphere” which is very conducive to “addressing key issues of global relevance or initiating new business contacts.” A combination of events on globalization would seem more global to me. How can corporate executives address poverty when they don?t feel it? Let us bring together these each side on globalization, for they are really different faces of our world.

I pray that there is no more violence in New York City, however, the associated press reported 87 arrests on one day alone. There is considerable passion on both sides, but we still all have to live together. New York City police enforce an 1875 law that disallows protesters to wear masks. Well, if the police didn?t have a history of using tear gas, protesters wouldn?t wear masks.

Disagree? Tell Samantha Hinrichs personally at [email protected]