I shudder every time I see one of those commercials where the guy is running after his huge "nest egg". Western economic theory rests on a few basic notions: that if someone wants something, it must have value; that the tension between what people want and its availability is a good gauge of its value; and that free markets do the best job of fixing value because they act knowledgably and in logical ways.

Adam Smith, in his "Wealth of Nations," argued that we should leave things alone and let the market sort them out. In his book "Pulse", Robert Frenay discussed problems of industrial globalization and its associated economics. Just after WW II the industrial powers formed the World Bank to end poverty; the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to sustain the then-prevailing fixed exchange rates; and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT) to provide a framework of international law.

In 1994, GATT was subsumed by the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO), with the authority to penalize any member nations -- even the richest -- whose trade laws impede the free flow of goods, services, and cash across international borders. Benefits are real. Global infant mortality rate has been cut in half; billions of people live longer, eat better and have more income. The world's total exports then were $380 billion dollars annually; now it's many times that amount.

However, World Bank loans and the IMF's structural adjustment programs make it easy to move polluting industries into the developing world; also, IMF and WTO suppress health, environmental and labor protections by asserting that they hamper open markets. 20% (and rising) of North American manufacturing jobs have migrated overseas.

Frenay argues that our environment, built up over 4 billion years, is a form of principal and should be protected by rules that govern financially conservative investment practice. Economic theory must recognize there's only so much energy to go around.

The bureaucratic ineptness and inefficiency of  Governments are partly to blame for our current environment and economic state. It is not as easy to fix as it is in business (which is not that easy either, but it is rational).

There are many thousands of lobbyists telling our representative government that what's good for their special interest is good for the country and themselves. Conservatives are concerned about big government, but ignore the growing list of multinational corporations that are bigger than most governments.

Adam Smith knew that monopolies were a danger to free markets in 1776 and so it is today. Automobiles, computers, media, pharmaceuticals and oil are monopolies that don't want free markets, they want markets they control.

A real threat comes from the World Bank, WTO, and IMF who support international monopolistic corporations. The diffusion of power through local control, encouraging individual participation, is the essence of democracy.

Conservatives and Liberals must find a common ground to fight big business, big government, and big media. The behavior and rules of the World Bank, WMO and IMF for a global economy are systemically contributing to pollution, sending manufacturing and jobs overseas and providing tax shelters for companies' foreign subsidiaries.

Global Monopolies don't answer to governments, but expect governments to cater to them. Monopolies, unfortunately, mitigate risk by controlling their markets and eliminating competitors. Many bureaucracies discourage risk taking.

The person who fails the least gets promoted. One sure way not to fail is not to do anything and to associate with the final stage of a successful project. Smaller companies take real risks. Taking risk implies there is some reward and associated happiness, but risk can also involve failure and misery. Small companies' innovations don't reach a controlled (not free) market because monopolies crush them to mitigate their risk.