Summary Of Inverting The Economic Order By Wendell Berry

Suraj Patel
Professor Brett
English 4 Section 14
12 February 2015
Today’s Economic System In Wendell Berry’s “Inverting the Economic Order”, Berry describes the several aspects of the economics in society today. He thought from an agrarian point of view, meaning that an economy based off of a household or community or nation (1). He explains that there are two types of economies: an authentic and a financial economic system. According to Berry, the ideal system is the authentic economic system in the sense that prioritizes nature first, then land economy, then manufacturing economy and finally consumer economy. To prove his point, he describes that “the law requires that what is taken must be maintained in continuous rotation” (1). He then

This type of system is very eager to confuse consumers regarding wants and needs (2) in the sense that purchasing expensive things such as cars and houses are beneficial to the economy and is patriotic even though an authentic economic system would consider this is irrational. Today’s economic system typically creates new needs by manufacturing things such as smartphones, laptops and cars that most teenagers and students “need”, and according to Berry, is very delusional and fraudulent since most people can survive without these modern products and is not economically sound to be indulging in these types of

The extent of the gullibility of the public in this case is that the price of bottled tap water is higher than that of gasoline, which is a major necessity for today’s busy workforce. Berry says that, “by the influence of marketers and sellers, citizens and members are transformed into suckers” (4) to explain the fact the consumer’s only role in society is to purchase and provide to the economic growth rather than providing for the needs of the general