The question of how to get from here to there is key question, but is almost unanswerable at the present time. I see very little chance of a rational turning back from the path we are on in the near term. Only when it becomes clear to a majority of the population that middleclass security is disappearing from the face of the earth will a political space open up for genuine institutional change. Even then the path of change will be difficult and tumultuous. I suspect our future will be decided in the streets (a la Argentina or Bolivia) rather than at the ballot box.

As for socially responsible investing, my view is that in the future the only way to earn money should be by working for it. The phenomenon of money earning money needs to disappear from the face of the earth. Of course we will still need to invest in manufacturing infrastructure, but this investing should be done by the community. The return on that investment will be the goods and services produced. Your salary is the return on your investment of labor. Money can increase in value only if the overall productivity of the economy is increasing. Although in some instances the productivity of a particular community may increase, there is no reason to allow large private accumulations of wealth to result from that increase. And, in general, in a post growth world increasing productivity will not be a rule governing all communities at all times. Financial investment will become a relic of the past although saving will still exist.