As we watch the economy around us, it seems to be getting more and more agressive in how things are marketed, and more hard nosed. Fewer and fewer businesses seem to be run by decent people who are members of the local Rotary or other clubs. The bottom line is the only thing which is important, and people are willing to do anything legal in pursuit of it.

We live in "The Age of the Greedy Bastard", as Terry Frost would put it.

Many firms are willing to pursue unethical business practices which are legal in themselves. Advertising becomes more offensive and "in your face". Direct marketers intrude on your life, being employed in ways which obviously keep the firm going but result in little net benefit for the whole economy.

And, we get more and more people who are willing to do something _illegal_ in pursuit of it. Rip off people, and so on.

This is how the world appears to the author, and there is no objective proof, but this perception must be addressed or it needs to be shown that the world is not as bad as it seems. This section will therefore only appeal to you if you share these perceptions.

This concern is one that competes with any concern about Geonomic principles.

It is this economy which Georgist reforms hope to "improve". Its quite possible that the wealth which Georgist principles free up will merely make these excesses worse.

At the heart of Geonomics is the assertion that "natural economic forces will see us right, we only have to give them unimpeded effect". But, Geonomics owes a lot of its vigour to "straightforward economics", even if it does differ on the significance of land.

There is no reason to think land reform will make the economy more "humane". As the market gets more fierce, more competitive, in a purely economic sense, we may have a more efficient economy. But we will have lost something intangible along the way.

Is this "unhumane" nature of the economy considered by Geonomics ? Broader Geonomics considers privilege. But it does not seems that these effects really have their origin in an abuse of privilege. They are the natural consequence of an unbridled pursuit of profit without any societal brake or expectation of a personal morality.

"Personal morality" means considering the effects of what you do on others along with your desire to make money. Compassion, tolerance and humanity. Not necessarily anything religious. Without these brakes on economic activity, economic activity becomes a demon which turns on us and consumes us.