Very astute insights here, Mike. Quite a while ago, I came up with an explanatory model based on the fundamental incompatibility of the two complex adaptive systems we all depend upon for our survival, which I labeled "the Cancer of the Earth." The two systems I labeled "Glomart" (for "Global Market Economy") and "Gaia" (the living Earth). Quite simply, Glomart is a cancer on Gaia. This can be seen by comparing their (diametrically opposed) production rules--the fundamental premises by which they operate:

GLOMART:

1. More is always better.

2. You are what you own.

3. Nothing has value until it has a price.

4. The Bottom Line is the bottom line.

GAIA:

1. Enough is enough.

2. You are what you do.

3. Value is incalculable, because it inheres in relationship.

4. The "bottom line" is survival and perpetuation of life itself, and the conditions that support it.

You are, of course, saying the exact same thing--another precise analysis of the inherent pathology of the Order of Money (Glomart).