Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Peter Burgess I missed your meeting ... hope you are now well! Peter Burgess Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 8:44 PM To: Richard Wolff Dear Professor Wolff I was looking forward to a lively discussion last Tuesday, but it was not to be. I hope whatever it was that ailed you has mended, leaving you hale and hearty once again. Your observation a couple of months back that what you have to say has more interested listeners than in times past is good news, but I want to ask, does it really matter? In the area where I have some expertise, the only metrics and incentives that anyone pays attention to are those that are about money profit and money wealth and forward indicators of these results ... in other words, GDP growth. None of the important externalities are recorded and reported as part of the system of measurement and reward. There are a good number of people who are talking about a better system of ordering society and the economy ... and this is news ... for the moment. But will it last. My belief is that in order for this 'news' to become meaningful change, there needs to be significant change in the way important metrics are handled. I am talking about accounting that not only accounts for money flows and reports profit, but accounts for value flows and impact on society. Many economic activities that are important cannot make a money profit ... but they can have a positive valuadd. Many activities that report huge money profits also produce social and environmental value destruction. Metrics to account for this and report it are essential. When are people like yourself, who are incredibly articulate about the dynamic of the dysfunctional capitalist economy, going to talk about the metrics we need so that powerful decision makers can be held to account for the value destruction that their profits produce? Obviously I am an accountant. If I was a hammer, I would be looking at a nail as the solution to big problems. So I see metrics as the answer to everything. I might well be right, because it is clear to me that the metrics we are using now are just plain wrong, and we are getting exactly the results that this system of metrics was designed to produce. So you might be happy you missed your meeting! I really want to see metrics on the agenda. Sincerely Peter ____________ Peter Burgess TrueValueMetrics ... Meaningful Metrics for a Smart Society twitter: @truevaluemetric @peterbnyc www.truevaluemetrics.org blog: http://truevaluemetrics.blogspot.com blog: http://communityanalyticsca.blogspot.com mobile: 212 744 6469 landline 570 431 4385 email: peterbnyc@gmail.com skype: peterburgessnyc Books: Search Peter Burgess at www.lulu.com