PART ONE

Despite Being Led Nearly to Ruin, How We Can Still React

Part 1 addresses how, notwithstanding the best of intentions, we were almost led to ruin and how, despite this truly precarious journey, we were still somehow unable to react. It looks at the period since 2000 and forms the foundation for understanding why we are where we are today, whether or not we have real choices, and what those choices might be. Part 1 examines the alternatives we are facing and assesses the crossroads at which we find ourselves.

I discuss how the financial crisis not only interrupted the plans we made for the new millennium but also undermined them, potentially causing massive disruption. This experience drives our need to ensure that we regain control over the most powerful tool, finance. By asserting our rightful ownership over it, we can reorient our direction back to achieving and delivering on the millennium undertakings. The undertakings that were made as we crossed into the new millennium set out a path of sorts, with guardrails for us to move within. I look at how after we were shunted sharply off course by the financial crisis, we were then buffeted by understandable reactions, leading to a rise in populism and to the arrival at a point of inflection, a key decision point.

In Chapter 1, I recall the hopes we had at the turn of the millennium, and what actually unfolded. I look at the developments of emerging markets, the digital revolution, increasing levels of urbanization, the growing role of the private sector, and evolution in our governance. Chapter 2 focuses on the financial crisis and how we let the financial genie out of the bottle and how it led us toward catastrophe. Chapter 3 looks at the loss of trust in the system (the most valuable form of capital we have) and the very real challenges and difficulties we have in restoring that trust. Chapter 4 assesses the efforts of the 2015 initiatives that sought to find a shared purpose for the nations of the world. Chapter 5 discusses the headwinds we have faced and the ensuing geopolitical issues, all of which make our efforts more important. Chapter 6 continues the discussion with a look at the political unrest that has swept across many countries. Chapter 7, the final chapter of Part 1, focuses on the challenge before us. It is a transition to Parts 2, 3, and 4 and questions whether we can rise to meet the expectations and regain our rightful control over finance in order to better serve the common good. I talk about what the right path could be and the benefits that could be realized from making the right decisions, the brave decisions.