If the dominant economic system could speak, it would describe itself in more or less these terms: “I take what I need (from wherever I can find it), I produce (under conditions that suit me), I sell (as much as I can to the greatest possible number of purchasers) thereby maximising my profit. I use advertising to define consumers’ needs and I programme obsolescence into my products. Anything that is old and no longer usable goes to landfill, but that’s not my problem. I’m not...