Likely end of FGF - what now?

Unfortunately it turned out that the Freeing Growth Foundation could not be registered as a charity in Ireland without a very significant amount of paperwork being submitted - so much so that it wasn't worth the effort. Therefore very shortly after its first filing of its accounts the FGF, as a company, will be put to sleep for the foreseeable future.

What is to come for Neo-Capitalism and the Freeing Growth book series et al? For now it looks like the whole lot will have to go on ice for perhaps an extended period of time. Much as I might like to continue work on the topic, firstly I need to strengthen its theoretical underpinnings in the academic literature hopefully though the publication of a PhD on thermodynamic imperatives for policy formation. Once I have accomplished this, a series of policy publications - hopefully in tandem with other notables in the field - will surely follow. These may, or may not, have the 'Freeing Growth' label on them depending on what is happening at that time.

Much as it may be hard to believe, there are plenty of highly competent people out there with lots of great realistic ideas for transforming our society for the better. Unfortunately, as very ably proven in the handling of the credit crunch, anyone considered too far from the centre tends to be ignored for the most part. Even with a peer reviewed doctoral thesis under my belt and a few hundred peer reviewed publications, I would still very much doubt that anything more than lip service would be paid to any of my ideas even by academics let alone policy makers. It's all far too 'far out' - for now at least.

I recently wrote a series of economics policy articles for a progressive think tank blog in Ireland. The first drew plenty of comment, the second drew none at all as I was clearly going into unwelcome places. However it was the third where I suddenly became ignored for no given reason. In the context of my wider thinking and proposals, what I proposed in the third was hardly radical, yet it was sufficiently 'far out' to be ignored rather than condemned.

Rather than waste the considerable amount of work I invested into writing these articles, I have republished them here complete with their comments by setting their dates at the time they were originally written - hence they will appear before this post. I hope you enjoy them and find them interesting, and maybe you might like to submit a comment or two!