Who's Counting?

According to New Zealand economist and former MP Marilyn Waring, the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster turned out to be one of the most productive oil tanker voyages in history: insurance costs, civil and criminal legal proceedings, the clean-up, compensations, all of this and more pumped money into the system. The system--that is, one based on Keynesian economics--doesn't recognize ethical distinctions, only money. By that unit of measure, peace has no value, says Waring, nor does preservation of the environment, nor do homemakers. While one can very easily quibble with some of Waring's generalizations (many environmental measures do pump money through the system), the real plus of this stimulating documentary is the way Waring forces viewers to adopt different perspectives, and consider the possibility of new economic models. Her point that GDP (this is a Canadian production) is totally unrelated to the well-being of a community is worth pondering as we watch the Dow play footsies with record highs while our towns and cities simultaneously decline. A thought-provoking look at the inflexibility of current economic models (which very much govern how the World Bank decides loans and therefore shapes developing countries), with particular focus on the absurdity of a system that defines women working at home as "economically inactive." Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)