Seventeen per cent of the US population, as opposed to the current 12 percent, would live under the poverty line under a new definition of poverty being considered by the Census Bureau.

The new approach would raise the income threshold for living above poverty to $19,500 for a family of four from $16,600.

The claim that capitalism is the embodiment of democracy and that open markets are the equivalent to freedom is constant and goes virtually unchallenged. The way the story goes is this: when the invisible hand of the market is unleashed from the oppressive hand of government regulation, the great corporations are able to bring prosperity to all. Problems like poverty, increasing inequality, financial meltdowns and degradation of the environment will all solve themselves. Just let the market be the market.

In this period where corporations seemingly rule the world, is there an alternative vision? David Korten has developed some interesting ideas. He proposes a roadmap to a post-corporate world, life after capitalism. He earned his MBA and PhD degrees at the Stanford School of Business. He later taught at Harvard. He was a longtime insider in the development establishment, having worked for USAID and the Ford Foundation. He severed his ties to the past. Today he is board chairman of the Positive Futures Network, and the founder and president of the People Centered Development Forum. He is the author of ??When Corporations Rule the World, and ??The Post-Corporate World. David Korten spoke at the University of Alberta at Edmonton.

Tape:

• David Korten, board chairman of the Positive Futures Network, and the founder and president of the People Centered Development Forum.

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