Unlike "compassionate conservatives," the phrase "compassionate economics" is not necessarily an oxymoron

Last night I had the good fortune to stumble across a fascinating interview on New Dimensions radio with author Riane Eisler. She was discussing her most recent book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating A Caring Economics. Good stuff, very insightful.

Here's an excerpt introducing the program from the New Dimensions website:

Even with a woman knocking on the door of the Presidency, our society-and our government-still views women, and the nurturing qualities of the feminine, as inferior. The result is a politics of scarcity, and a growing population of families living in poverty. Ms. Eisler explains, "As long as we don't make the invisible visible, we will continue to see this economic double standard at work, and policy makers will continue to tell us that we always have money for prisons or for weapons and wars. But these same policy makers will tell us somehow that there isn't enough money for health care, child care, paid parental leave. It makes no sense. This country is going to pay very, very dearly in economic terms for not investing in our human capital, not to speak of all the suffering that we're causing. But we've got to make that visible. Then we can change it."

The site charges $1.99 for the full, one-hour program (well worth the time and money, imho). Alternatively, an excerpt can be found here (free site registration required).