Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth
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Today's economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression. However, as David Korten shows, the steps being taken to address it do nothing to deal with the reality of a failed economic system. It's like treating cancer with a bandage. Korten identifies the deeper sources of the failure: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating "wealth" without producing anything of real value: phantom wealth. Our hope lies not with Wall Street, Korten argues, but with Main Street, which creates real wealth from real resources to meet real needs. He outlines an agenda to create a new economy-- locally based, community oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all, not simply increasing profits. It will require changes to how we measure economic success, organize our financial system, even the very way we create money, an agenda Korten summarizes in his version of the economic address to the nation he wishes Barack Obama were able to deliver.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, but fanciful This book, by the author's admission, was hastily put together to provide commentary on the collapse of Wall St in the Fall of 2008 and the subsequent federal bailout and to advocate for a dramatic shift to a real wealth economy. It is indisputable that collectively Wall St created a massive financial asset bubble, or "phantom wealth," based on a huge pyramid of debt created by inter-firm lending and the selling of securities based on either nonexistent or questionable assets. Most can agree that it is simply unconscionable that the top fifty investment managers raked off fees of $30 billion in 2007 alone, as though their actions were entirely legitimate. It's hard to disagree that Wall St in its current operational mode is basically a criminal syndicate. But is the author's call for the elimination of Wall St, rather than propping it up and altering it, more fanciful than realistic?
The author provides no estimates of the costs to tens of millions of average people who have been forced to create retirement portfolios in 401k accounts if Wall St is shut down. He dismisses those writers and economists who advocate for the re-regulation of the financial sector, although he recognizes the benefits of regulation in the decade of the 1950s.
The author's mission is far more than to criticize Wall St. Following on his previous work; he decries the fact that corporations, in their new globalized form, have become so powerful that they literally shape our lives. Corporations pushed for so-called free-trade agreements, which in actuality was a means to hollow out our manufacturing base, while shipping millions of jobs overseas. It is corporations that fight against environmental regulations, preferring to pass the impact of their products and production on to the rest of us. It's not as though the citizens of this nation agree that those are beneficial developments.
But again, is this not a failure of regulation? Enforceable labor and environmental standards could have been a part of trade agreements. Mileage and emissions standards could have been set and enforced after the first oil crisis in 1975. The FDA could have the power to really protect us against harmful medications and contaminated food. Much of the power of corporations is political, achieved primarily through contributions and lobbying. However, the notion that a corporation is a "person" with political rights is totally absurd. Only real people should participate in a democracy, not artificial entities. Shutting corporations out of direct participation in the political process would have huge and immediate consequences.
The author essentially wants to break up huge corporations and return to a "real-wealth" economy where businesses are locally owned and operated. Real-wealth, in the author's way of thinking, "is a healthy, fulfilling life; healthy, happy children; loving families; and a caring community within a beautiful, healthy natural environment. It ... affirms our inherent worth and service. It is a peaceful world." A real-wealth economy is sustainable: resource depletion and environmental degradation are foremost concerns. Furthermore, such an economy and way of life are something that "we" all want.
However, the author makes no attempt to assess the existence of the social harmony and wisdom that would be required to drastically revamp our way of life. In fact, a strong case could be made for the diminishment of said characteristics over the last thirty years. The rise of the Republican greed society has occurred with the tacit approval of a huge portion of society, regardless of how that may be rationalized. It appears that the new President's room to maneuver in this environment is highly limited. How much change is really wanted?
The author has a "12-Point New Economy Agenda." A lot of it has appeal, but to enact any of it will require the political will and power of the general public. Instead of permitting corporations to essentially exist in perpetuity, their charters should be subject to revocation on clear indications of public disservice. We need to restore our economic sovereignty by rational trade policies. Workers should be empowered within firms to participate in decisions impacting them and the community, as well as the enterprise. Of course, the vast disparities in wealth and income need to be addressed if a real sense of community is to be achieved. Contrary to the author, Wall St and corporations, sufficiently regulated, can fit in an economy where citizens have the upper hand.
Certainly, most of us share in the author's alarm that our economic institutions, as well as a government controlled by those entities, are creating an unsustainable and unpleasant future for most of us. But this book, other than pointing out Wall St and corporate excesses and wishing for a more people-friendly future, provides no help in describing a path by which we can get from a society dominated by a self-interested, wealthy social layer to one where the average person can expect a life-enhancing future.
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From Wall Street to Earth Community Here's a sample of David Korten's hard-hitting rhetoric: "Since Wall Street behaves like a criminal syndicate, government should treat it like a criminal syndicate" (p. 124). And judging from the standing ovations Korten has been getting, Obama had better listen.
But the heart of this book is actually a revolutionary "12-point New Economy Agenda". His diagnosis is that the casino known as Wall Street creates "phantom wealth" that acts as a cancer to devour the "real wealth" of Main Street, enriching the few by swindling the many.
In the New Economy only government would issue money, government would facilitate stakeholder buyouts to democratize corporate ownership, and government would tax to create an equitable distribution of wealth and to dampen speculation. The underlying theme would be local self-reliance, including the breakup of large corporations, to restore the kind of competitive market eonomy envisioned by Adam Smith.
However Korten's agenda still falls short in some respects. For example, he asks for "full-cost market pricing" (prices which include environmental costs and all other "externalities"), but people have been working on this since the 70s with only marginal success. What we need is a better agenda for how to do it.
Korten is quite accurate in saying that (p. 120) "a market system has an appropriate set of rules enforced by government to maintain conditions essential of efficient market function". However, he fails to note that this applies to all levels of economic activity, including the global economy. Only primitive societies can function largely outside of the global economy, yet the global economy, both in trade and finance, is full of failures and inequities due to the absence of acceptable mechanisms for making and enforcing rules. Poorer countries quite rightly rebel against the exploitive capitalist interests that dominate the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund.
The only answers to making and enforcing "appropriate rules" are new forms of democratic global governance, yet Korten shies away from this obvious conclusion. The irony is that Korten's previous book prophesied the "Great Turning - from Empire to Earth Community".
It's time for Korten and his followers to take Earth Community seriously. Since Wall Street is now global, the real agenda must be for a new global financial system, democratically created and enforced. This is a golden opportunity to lay the ground work for the kind of global teamwork it will take to tackle the crises that are combining to threaten human civilization itself, epitomized by global climate change, peak oil, and population explosion.
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Very little "New" in this text: I thought some of the ideas deserve merit (maybe 10 pages of the entire book), but on balance the thinking is rehashed mid-century social structure. The most enlightening concepts centered around local growing, shopping, employment and ownership that decentralizes Wall Street control of middle class success and individual freedom to make choices that are unique....more info
Vigorous advocacy with limited analysis of opposing views David Korten's Agenda for a New Economy is a disappointing book if one expects an in-depth and balanced analysis of the issues he considers. I don't think the tone and substance of the book will convert many readers. If you already agree with Dr. Korten's perspective, you may find his vigorous denunciations of Wall Street and calls for radical reform to be invigorating. But you will not find in-depth discussions of the opposing arguments to his positions, even to refute those arguments. I have not read Dr. Korten's other books, so perhaps he has more in-depth discussion there, and is using this book simply as a timely summary of his views. But, in my view, there are other books with a similar perspective to this book that do a better job of analysis.
To give some examples:
1. Much of the book is concerned with denouncing Wall Street. This is probably a popular position right now. Dr. Korten denounces Wall Street for only creating "phantom wealth", as opposed to the "real wealth" created by production of goods and services. Yet he never really critically analyzes the opposing view that modern, complex societies may benefit from financial intermediaries that help both individuals and large organizations to raise capital. The excesses of the current financial system do not mean that it serves no useful purpose.
2. Much of the book is highly critical of large corporations. Yet he never really critically analyzes the opposing view that large corporate production helps realize significant economies of scale. There are alternatives to eliminating large corporations to limit corporate power, for example by strengthening sources of countervailing power such as labor unions.
3. Dr. Korten is convinced, as are some segments of the environmental community, that long-term environmental sustainability requires a significant shrinking of our current consumption of material goods. Yet he never seriously critiques the opposing view of most mainstream economists that environmental problems can be addressed adequately, and economic growth maintained at a moderate rate, if we "get the prices right" via pollution taxes or permits for CO2 emissions. He mentions Jeffrey Sachs's claim that environmental problems and poverty problems could be addressed at an ongoing cost of less than 3% of global output only to mock the claim, not to refute it. But Sachs is not the only economist making such claims.
4. Dr. Korten appears to endorse some radical monetary schemes that would try to limit money creation via bank lending, and substitute monetary creation via the government printing money to support spending when needed. It is somewhat interesting that his monetary solutions seem to coincide with those of some very conservative groups. I am not a monetary economist, but I think at the very least it is questionable whether such a system would in fact provide a more stable and less inflationary money supply than the current system. In any event, he does not seriously address possible critiques of his radical monetary system.
In the book's preface, Dr. Korten mentions some other books as possible resources for those interested in his perspective. I think at least three of the books he mentions are superior to the current book in providing more persuasive arguments for perspectives similar to Korten's. Gus Speth's "The Bridge at the Edge of the World" is more fair-minded and provides much more detailed discussion of environmental issues and the economy. Michael Shuman's "The Small-Mart Revolution" provides many more local, practical examples of how to strengthen local economies. Bill McKibben's "Deep Economy" is more engagingly written and less polemical in tone. ...more info
Impressive! Korten begins by asking "What do Wall Street institutions do that is so vital that it justifies spending trillions to save them from their own excesses?" "Might there be other ways to provide necessary and beneficial services with greater effectiveness and at lesser cost?"
Our government has come to believe it should no longer be concerned with producing real wealth - goods and services with utility; instead, we can grow our economy faster with less exertion by securitizing real assets and pumping their value up. Unfortunately, asset bubbles create only phantom wealth that increases the claims of the holder to a society's existing real wealth, and dilutes the claims of everyone else. We need to move from a Wall Street focus (making money, using global financial capital) to a Main Street focus (creating livelihoods, using local/national capital).
In 1950, manufacturing accounted for 29.3% of U.S. GDP, vs. financial services' 10.9%. By 2005, manufacturing contributed only 12% to GDP and financial services were at 20.4%. By 2008, financial services was the largest U.S. economic sector.
Achieving this required removing restrictions on debt/equity ratios, consumer interest rates, lending practices (eg. special charges), relaxing financial reporting standards, and creating financial conglomerates. In 2006, U.S. financial sector debt (largely financial institution loans to other financial institutions to leverage their financial speculations, totaled $14 trillion - 32% of U.S. debt, and 107% of U.S. GDP. (This was money NOT available to improve production.) When Lehman Brothers collapsed, it was leveraged 35:1.
In 2007, the 50 highest-paid investment fund managers averaged $588 million in annual compensation - 19,000X that of the average worker. The top five each took home over $1.5 billion. These looted funds should have been serving as reserves to cover their high-stakes bets.
From 1980 to 2005, the top 1% increased the share of taxable income from 9 to 19%, facilitated by trade policies, hiring illegal immigrants, and accounting tricks to understate inflation's impact on indexed wages and Social Security increases. The World Bank and IMF loans boosted big corporate projects that offered lots of scamming opportunities; their failure brought the rich more opportunities through prescribed remedies of selling the nations' natural assets, opening borders to foreign imports, and privatizing public assets and services.
A recent United Nations University study found the richest 2% own 51% of the world's assets, vs. the poorest owning only 1%. Financial assets of the richest 1% in the U.S. total $16.8 trillion, vs. our $13.8 GDP and total federal expenditures of $2.7 trillion.
Korten's recommendations: Full-cost market pricing (includes subsidies, pollution, injuries), assessing fees and prohibitions to make Wall Street theft and gambling less profitable (eg. outlaw selling, insuring, borrowing against assets one doesn't own, taxing trades), tax hedge fund earnings as ordinary income (not capital gains), rebuild the economy for greater self-reliance, make the U.S. wealth distribution more equitable, and require the Treasury Dept. to take over failed banks - not just loan them money....more info
What we needed was an "actionary"; he gave us another take on "visionary". BOOK REVIEW: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, by David C. Korten.
Let me begin this review by emphasizing: I agree with almost every detail of the agenda Dr. Korten presents. Please allow me to say that again: I agree with almost every detail of the agenda Dr. Korten presents.
Yet, with regret, I can recommend this book only to those people who are not already familiar with Dr. Korten's work. To begin with, the main title could be rewritten as "yet another agenda for new economy". Also, the promotional blurb at the top of the front cover mischaracterizes the actual content. In its current form, it reads: "Why Wall Street can't be fixed and how to replace it". In my view, the actual text better supports substantives than practices. So, I would suggest instead, "Why Wall Street can't be fixed and what to replace it with"--with "how" left out.
But that's what Dr. Korten has been writing about for a long time, beginning with his contribution to the edited collection Alternatives to Economic Globalization A Better World Is Possible (2002), through his recent The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006). Most of his readers agree that Wall Street is broken and can't be fixed; the really pressing question isn't "what to replace it with", but "how to go about replacing it"--most likely, I acknowledge, toward some variation of Dr. Korten's "Agenda". What we need is a book of practical suggestions for getting from here to there, in the face of serious, determined, and supremely well-prepared and even better funded opposition; not another book of agenda items.
Here's why I keep harping on this. When I recall movements that have succeeded in bending the arc of history toward justice, I find myself associating them with people who thought up and led action. Gandhi had a vision, and a story--and still led the "salt march". The image of his followers non-violently lining up for their turn to "take one for the movement"--a clubbing by a British soldier, that is--is seared into my memory. Martin Luther King led his supporters to Selma Bridge, even though they all knew that vicious police with vicious dogs awaited their arrival. Nelson Mandela endured more then a quarter of a century of imprisonment, directing a revolution, that as revolutions sometimes do (see US Revolution, French Revolution), got violent--and we still like to think of Mandela as having bent the arc of history a bit further toward justice, or at least I do. Lech Walensa led shipyard workers in implementing the agenda he originally developed to unionize them--an echo of the victory won by the nascent United Autoworkers Union decades earlier through The Great Sit-Down strike against GM and a sharp rebuke to business unionism in the US. Caesar Chavez organized national selective boycotts, and over time brought some justice to farmworkers. But, I believe that none of these people would be as significant, nor their movements as successful, nor the arc of history bent as far toward justice, had they limited their attention to writing agendas.
Let me offer three specific critiques of Dr. Korten's most recent agenda. The first arises from his adoption of the commonly used distinction, Wall Street - Main Street. This distinction is an organizer's dream, but identifying large corporations with Wall Street oversimplifies a much more complex relationship. Many people on Main Street have invested in the large corporations associated with Wall Street; for them, Wall Street means - or at least used to mean, and they hope will again mean -- retirement income. To ask them to help us do away with Wall Street would be tantamount to asking them to saw off the branch they are sitting on. If we hope to get them to join us, we'll have to do better at enticing them then that.
Furthermore, it was the large corporations that gave rise to conditions in which the lower classes could organize and fight bourgeois owners - as large institutions generally tend (eventually, usually after protracted contesting) to give rise to conditions in which oppressed groups have organized and fought for rights do.
My second critique arises in reaction to a thread that runs through the book and comes to a head on page 173. After extolling the virtues of self-organizing systems throughout the book, Dr. Korten recalls that "global civil society mobilized more than 10 million people on February 15, 2003, to protest the anticipated US invasion of Iraq [... and that The] New York Times dubbed it the second global superpower." That action, as Dr. Korten goes on to write, "[was] made possible by the Internet, it was the largest, most inclusive, and most global expression of public opinion in human history." Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of reasons far more important than the point I am trying to make here, and as Dr. Korten himself acknowledges, the demonstration failed... why? Well, curiously enough, Dr. Korten doesn't offer an explanation. Perhaps it wasn't good enough to be merely the second global superpower; the first global superpower may have been far enough ahead to get its way. And who knows? The first global superpower might have gotten its way - as Herbert Marcuse might argue- specifically because of the foundational and steering influence it exerted in creating the Internet in the first place.
My third critique is that Dr. Korten's social science method--for example, his effort to identify causality--leaves much to be desired. For example, on page 85, Dr. Korten asserts:
"The middle-class ascendance in post-World War II America was an extraordinary demonstration of the possibilities of a democracy grounded in the belief that everyone should share in the benefits of a well-functioning society."
But, even within that superficially non-problematic statement, there are at least two, not necessarily, and not always connected notions: [1] demonstrating the possibilities of a democracy, and [2] democracy grounded in a belief about sharing. And other factors may have contributed; most notably, the Marshall Plan, which induced the world to "buy American" during their post-World War II reconstruction; also, the US government's decision to stimulate demand as a way to avoid mass job displacement and mass unemployment during America's own "reconstruction". Furthermore, as China's recent "ascendance" suggests, benefits of similar scale are not necessarily restricted to democracies, at least not in the short run. And who knows how long the "short run" is for a society that has been around for 3,000 years or so?
In conclusion, and in tying all this together, I am still hoping that Dr. Korten will write a practice-oriented book, a "how-to" book--actually, more of a "ways-to" book (nb: "ways" is plural)--or even a "paths to" (recalling Amory Lovins' book, Soft Energy Paths (circa 1977). I am still hoping that he will use his considerable celebrity to elevate the status of people who are focusing on actually doing his agenda, and to elevate the status of such effort. And then I hope he will become something of a wandering minstrel who, much as bees cross-pollinate, flits knowingly from place to place, sharing news from attempts made elsewhere, and mixing in his own wisdom--but mostly: listening, asking, probing, nudging, exhorting, and challenging--the sorts of things his efforts over the years have earned him the stature to do and which would had he not done them make him seem presumptuous for attempting to do. We have to figure out how to go about replacing the world system... and the ice is melting....more info
Totally Wishful Thinking! The author bases his perceptions and conclusions on the fallacy that normal market behavior is a learned mode of behavior. He says that the teaching of Economics should be banned from colleges. His notion is that somehow we're all going to wake up in 'never=never land' of pure equality.
His willingness to deny individuals their rights is appalling and all too accepted these days.
If you don't ascribe to his view then you'll not get past the second page. You'll either want to punch him out or fall asleep....more info
Visionary "Agenda for a New Economy," by David Korten is a valuable discussion of how there needs to be paradigm shift in the way we view Wall Street and the structure of the overall economy. Korten builds upon some of the major themes of his previous book, "The Great Turning," in calling for an economic system that measures wealth less on the fiat currency system and more on families, communities, healthy children, and environmental health. There has been plenty written about the corruption of Wall Street and the inequality the system breeds, but very little has been offered in the way of giving folks a blueprint of sorts for an alternative system that values people over an unstable monetary system. That is, until now.
One of the more interesting points in the book is the discussion of the nature of wealth. Korten refers to the current measure of wealth as "phantom wealth,' in which he lays out a case for its replacement with "real wealth." He makes this case quite well. Korten even goes so far as to call for the elimination of Wall Street. This idea will likely shock most readers. The immediate response is to think, "This guy is off his rocker! He must be na?ve. Can that really happen?" Korten, a former business professor at Harvard, is no lightweight when it comes to economic theory. In "Agenda for a New Economy" Korten harkens back to the original ideas espoused by the father capitalism, Adam Smith. What we have now is not the same type of market system envisioned by Smith. Adam Smith would be shocked at all the tinkering and smoke and mirrors engrained in the current system. Korten elaborates on the many virtues of getting back to the basics of a market economy and true capitalism. He terms his vision as the replacing of Wall Street with "Main Street."
Korten gives a loose blueprint for restoring the economy and making it viable long-term. His vision is focused squarely on the development and nurturing of families and communities as opposed to the nurturing of the ultra-wealthy and corrupt. In the process, the environment and public health will be strengthened to a degree never before seen. It is a bold vision that some people may scoff at as being unrealistic, but Korten, no stranger to development, has seen first-hand around the world how his ideas can be put into place. He is now challenging readers to boldly start thinking about and discussing where to go from here.
"Agenda for a New Economy" should be read by every policy maker and citizen in this country. It is filled with sound examples, historical context, and economic theory. It explains the nature of the sputtering engine powering the economy and what needs to be done to radically rebuild the engine. I urge everyone to read this book and tell everyone you know to read it. You may not agree with every single idea in this book, but I guarantee that you will think hard about every idea. I think that was the intent of Korten, and to that extent this book is a complete success....more info
3.5 stars-Yes,banker speculation is the main problem but.... The author has identified the 400 plus year macroeconomic problem correctly.The problem is ,and has always been since around 1600 AD ,banker induced ,aided and supported speculation and financial manipulation(bankers call this securitization today)aimed at creating bubbles that allow the bankers to make huge amounts of paper profits in a short period of time.However,every banker financed bubble inevitably deflates , usually leading to a recession .A depression requires two or more bubbles,usually a land or housing speculative bubble, combined with financial market bubble, that have closed loop, interactive feedback mechanisms that multiple the negative effects when the bubbles begin to collapse and deflate.
The author is one of the very few to have absorbed the economic content in Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759;1790,sixth edition)as demonstrated on pp.117-121.It certainly supports his analysis of the problem.It is unfortumate that the author does not make any use of the high powered analysis provided by Smith on pp.260-340 of The Wealth of Nations(1776,Modern (Cannan) Library edition with the foreword by Max Lerner)concerning problems created by the private commercial banking industry supporting the debt leveraging behavior of speculators that Smith stated would lead to the savings deposits of the depositors being wasted and destroyed.Smith's solution is simple and preventitive in nature-A private central bank's major goal must be to prevent the private commercial banking industry from making loans to projectors,imprudent risk takers ,and prodigals(these categories are the same as Keynes's specuators and rentiers in the GT.Keynes's analysis in chapters 22-24 of the GT would also have lent great support to the author's position.It is strange that Keynes appears nowhere in the book).Smith's other major policy rule is to maintain fixed rates of interest at low levels a little bit above the equilibrium rate charged to the most creditworthy of borrowers permanently over the long run.The banks can lend using this low rate to the sober people,i.e.,businessmen like the butcher,brewer,baker,blacksmith,barber,brick layer, and beauty salon owner who will use the loans to expand their businesses.This process will create real wealth, as opposed to the paper wealth of stock market manipulation undertaken during the bubbles engineered by the private banking industry.
The author's solutions ,however,appear to be nebulous.After having correctly put his finger on the correct problem,banker financed and induced speculation and financial manipulation,he then goes off in the direction that Theodore Roosevelt realized was not possible-breaking up all of the national and multinational corporations.This would lead to the loss of all of the economies of scale and scope that have been generated by technological progress and innovation over the last 200 years.The correct path to follow is stringent regulation and enforcement combined with fines that have teeth and 10-15 year prison sentences for those convicted of breaking the regulatory rules of the game.Unfortunately,it was Jimmy Carter who started the deregulation and privatization ball rolling down the hill that led to our present dangerous economic situation.The deregulation and privatization was then increased under the next four Presidents .All four were basically heavily supported by Wall Street.The same conclusion holds for Obama.The only change that Main Street is going to get from Obama is chump change or pocket change. ...more info
The Big Fallacy The great fatal fallacy that Mr. Korten, and many before him (including Karl Marx) have made, is confusing the creation of THINGS with the creation of WEALTH. Since the development of trade, commerce and the usage of "money" a few thousand years ago, the world population has zoomed. For tens of thousands of years, man was just a hunter-gatherer, who had to avoid big animals in order not to get eaten himself. There were relatively few people on earth at the time, for survival was difficult. Even when Columbus and Europeans discovered North America some 5 centuries ago, there were only perhaps 5-15 million native "Indians" (as he called them) able to subsist on the continent. Even as late as 1800, the entire planet is estimated to have had only 1 billion, or perhaps only twice as many as in Roman times. But in the last 2 centuries, since the dawn of the industrial revolution and the growth of capitalism, the world population has increased nearly 7 fold. So if nothing else, capitalism has increased the possibility of human survival, though some begrudge the right of others to exist.
Workers naturally believe that wealth is created by making things. But that is not true. Wealth is created by SELLING things at a PROFIT! Something you make may be very useful, but if no one will buy it at a price above the cost of your labor and expenses, i.e., at a profit, the item produces no wealth even if it is a useful item. The creation of profit is the creation of wealth.
Now, it is true that Wall Street and the financial industry often turns itself into a wild casino, and then its actions can become destabilizing. People can gamble some of their money if they are working and have some to spare. But when people are enticed into gambling when they are broke, then it makes the rich richer for a while, but it drives the poor further into despair. Booms turn into busts, and the engine of capitalism gyrates out of control, and has to be re-tuned. But you don't simply throw away the engine and get a horse when that happens. The impulse after a great and frightening bust, as we are now experiencing, is to want to pick up a wrench and beat up the old engine, when it should be used to repair and put into place the safety systems needed to keep it from gyrating out of control again....more info
