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Jeremy Rifkin |
Jeremy Rifkin (born 1943, Denver, Colorado), the founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET), is an American economist, writer, and public speaker. He is an activist who seeks to shape public policy in the United States and globally.
He has testified before numerous congressional committees and has engaged in litigation extensively to ensure "responsible" government policies on a variety of environmental, scientific and technology related issues. Since 1994, Rifkin has been a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Executive Education Program, lecturing CEOs and senior corporate management from around the world on new trends in science and technology.
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Rifkin earned degrees in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Rifkin has published many books—primarily focused on the impact of scientific and technological changes—in which he has speculated on the end or change of work, property, the American dream, the potential of dangers unleashed by biotechnology, and on the beginning of a new hydrogen economy.
Rifkin became one of the first major critics of the nascent biotechnology industry with the 1977 publication of his book, Who Should Play God? His 1995 book, The End of Work, an international bestseller, is credited by some with helping shape the current global debate on technology displacement, corporate downsizing and the future of jobs. His 1998 book, The Biotech Century, addresses the many critical issues accompanying the new era of genetic commerce.
After the publication of The Hydrogen Economy, Rifkin worked both in the U.S. and the EU to advance the political cause of renewably generated hydrogen. In the U.S., Rifkin was instrumental in founding the Green Hydrogen Coalition. The GHC consists of 13 environmental and political organizations (including Greenpeace and MoveOn.Org) that are committed to building a renewable hydrogen based economy.
The Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET), based in Washington D.C. is active in both national and international public policy issues related to the environment, the economy, and biotechnology. FOET examines new trends and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture and society, and engages in litigation, public education, coalition building and grassroots organizing activities to advance their goals.
Rifkin has sparked controversies about his positions. Critics in the U.S. have called him a professional scaremonger for supporting precautionary principles, one group going so far as to brand him "the intellectual guru of the neo-Luddites," as they view many of his positions as obstacles to technological advancement. Some groups, like the right-wing Center for Consumer Freedom through its ActivistCash website, assert that Rifkin's books are "littered with errors and false predictions." Time Magazine went so far as to call him "the most hated man in science",1 although groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists have cited some of his publications as useful references for consumers.2As well, many have considered his understanding of the American economy to be absolutely flawed - for in his book, European Dream, he blamed the vastly unequal distribution of wealth in America to be the result of unbridled market capitalism, while many claim that the vastly disparaged class of America have gotten that way by the government disruption of free markets, through massive bailouts in favor of large industrial and financial corporations, resulting in vast debt and inflation. For example, conservatives like Ron Paul would argue against Rifkin on this basis and maybe state that Rifkin actually doesn't understand how the the American economy works at all - the former clearly describes how our ills have become resultant from excessive government intervention and that the free-market Rifkin speaks of is only a reality in the words of the political candidates, not in the economic reality of America. Nevertheless, Rifkin is a well known writer for his works on political economy and socio economic interpretations of the western world.
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