Doug Cocks' Future Makers, Future Takers was first published in 1999, and despite continuing demand is now out of print. To satisfy this demand, PDF copies of the book are now available on CD ROM, delivered to you anywhere in the world for only $20.00 aus. Order using secure server
Future Makers, Future Takers explores the issues today's Australians must address with great thought if our children and grand children are to thank us for having considered their well-being in a generous and sensible manner.
Future Makers, Future Takers seeks to identify, detail and compare the broad socio-political philosophies and bundles of policies that comprise Australia's realistic choices for guiding Timeship Australia through the coming turbulent decades. Proactive strategies for managing Australia's future are comprehensively and even handedly presented. These strategies are called Conservative Development, Economic Growth, and Post Materialism.
Abstract
Future Makers, Future Takers is a comparative analysis of the 'big' choices that confront the Australian people when they ask 'How can we best ensure that our grandchildren live in a society where high quality of life is a reality for most people?' Is our best bet to start down an 'economic growth' path built on single-minded pursuit of material prosperity using a strategy of deregulated markets and 'small government'? Or a 'conservative development' path built on the ideas of 'tax and spend' interventionism by a strong centralist government? Or a 'post-materialism' path built on the ideas of capping the physical economy and building political, community and business structures which increasingly value stakeholder participation and collaboration. The book is a detailed disinterested exposition of what these different strategies involve on the ground and an evaluation of their prospects for successfully tackling the four failures of late twentieth century capitalist societies-environmental degradation, social injustice, sociopathy (pathological social relationships) and a rate of economic growth which, depending on your viewpoint, is either too high or too low. The book makes no attempt to advocate one strategy over another. Its purpose is rather to make it clear that we Australians do have real choices and to inform a debate that so many believe we should be having.
To purchase a PDF version of Future Makers, Future Takers on CD ROM via our secure server CLICK HERE