ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Agenda for a New Economy is a book about unrealized possibility. I bear sole responsibility for its contents, but it is the product of many minds and the deeds of many leaders. A few of are mentioned here for their special contributions.

First, I’m indebted to Rabbi Michael Lerner, who shortly before the financial meltdown of September 2008 invited me to write an article for Tikkun magazine reviewing books by two influential economists. As the meltdown played out, the article evolved with Michael’s guidance to become a call for a basic redesign of our economic institutions and featured a proposed address for delivery by President Obama on a New Economy agenda.

As I was working on that piece with Michael, the Wall Street financial bubble burst and the U.S. Congress rushed through a bill attempting to restore business as usual by bailing out the banks responsible for the crisis. At the same time, YES! Magazine editors Sarah van Gelder and Doug Pibel suggested I do a piece for YES! on what Congress should be doing to actualize the possibilities of a new economy designed to serve people, community, and nature. The Tikkun and YES! articles both appeared shortly after the November 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama.

Late in the evening on November 24, Steve Piersanti, the president and publisher of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, with whom I’ve worked on my most widely read books, sent me an e-mail message saying he had read the YES! article and wanted to help get its message out far and wide, perhaps as a short book.

From that moment forward, Steve and the incredible Berrett- Koehler staff went into overdrive to produce the book in time for a January 23, 2009, launch at the historic Trinity Church in the heart of Wall Street, shortly after Obama’s presidential inauguration. I’ve never in my life worked with such single-minded concentration or experienced such total support from colleagues. I sent Steve chapters on a daily basis, and he invariably responded within a few hours with feedback. Michael Crowley adjusted his holiday vacation to put together the cover text, endorsements, and marketing materials. Karen Seriguchi, who served as copy editor, worked with me literally around the clock for ten days to turn the manuscript into a final edited text. Valerie Brewster of Scribe Typography did the design and composition, and Todd Manza did the proofreading, all in record time. I also owe special thanks to Raffi, who made a special recording of his song “No Wall Too Tall” to celebrate the launch at the Trinity Church

Fran Korten, my life partner and publisher of YES! Magazine, advised on the editorial content and protected me from interruptions. Kat Gjovik, director of communications and outreach for the Great Turning Initiative, dealt with all the communications that I put on hold. Susan Gleason, media and outreach manager for YES! Magazine, helped organize the launch and related media events. This second edition has been completed on a more conventional publication schedule with the same dedicated support from the same teams at Berrett-Koehler and YES!

Others who made important contributions to one or both editions include Gar Alperovitz, Cecile Andrews, Sarah Anderson, Tusi Avegalio, Alissa Barron, Jane Barthelemy, Matthew Bauer, Stephen Bezruchka, Jacob Bomann- Larsen, Ellen Brown, Puanani Burgess, John Cavanagh, Raffi Cavoukian, Barbara Chan, Tiffiniy Cheng, Chuck Collins, Bob Dandrew, Charles Eisenstein, Riane Eisler, Hilary Franz, Alisa Gravitz, Shannon Hayes, Gerri Haynes, Bob Jones, Van Jones, Georgia Kelly, Marjorie Kelly, Dennis Kucinich, Dal LaMagna, Michelle Long, Derek Long, Jason McLennan, Jerry Mander, Stacy Mitchell, Frances Moore Lappé, Noel Ortega, John Perkins, Barry Peters, Channie Peters, Harry Pickens, Vicki Robin, Bob Scott, Don Shaffer, Vandana Shiva, Michael Shuman, James Gustave Speth, Sarah Stranahan, Lama Tsomo, Roberto Vargas, Meredith Walker, Randall Wallace, Judy Wicks, Sandy Wiggins, Richard Wilkinson, and Stephen Zarlenga.

This second edition of Agenda for a New Economy is published as a report of the New Economy Working Group (NEWGroup, neweconomyworkinggroup.org).

I cochair NEWGroup with John Cavanagh, executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, D.C. Noel Ortega is the NEWGroup coordinator.

NEWGroup is a partnership of IPS (ips-dc.org); YES! Magazine (yesmagazine.org); BALLE (livingeconomies.org); the People-Centered Development Forum (pcdf.org); James Gustave Speth, former dean of the Yale School of Forestry and administrator of the United Nations Development Programme; and Gar Alperovitz, professor of political economy, the University of Maryland, and president of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives. IPS, which works in partnership with progressive members of Congress and many national groups involved in economic education and policy advocacy, serves as the secretariat. The views expressed are mine and do not necessarily represent positions of NEWGroup or its individual partners.

David Korten

davidkorten.org