13 | JOHN FULLERTON – Founder and President of Capital Institute
Shownotes
John Fullerton is an unconventional economist, impact investor, writer and public speaker, and former Wall Street executive. His passion is the systemic economic transformation underway at the dawn of the Integral Age.
John Fullerton is the founder and president of Capital Institute, a collaborative working to illuminate how our economy and financial system can operate to promote a more just, regenerative, and thus sustainable way of living on this earth. He is the author of “Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape the New Economy.” Through the work of Capital Institute, regular public speaking engagements, and university lectures, John has become a recognized thought leader, exploring the future of Capitalism.
John is also a recognized “impact investment” practitioner as the principal of Level 3 Capital Advisors, LLC. Level 3’s direct investments are primarily focused on regenerative land use, food, and water issues. Through both Capital Institute and Level 3, John brings an integrated theory and practice approach to economic system transformation.
Previously, John was a managing director of JPMorgan where he worked for over 18 years. At JPMorgan, John managed various capital markets and derivatives business around the globe, then shifted focus to private investments and was subsequently the Chief Investment Officer of LabMorgan through the merger with Chase Manhattan before retiring from the bank in 2001.
Following JPMorgan, and after experiencing 9-11 first hand, John spent years embarked on more entrepreneurial ventures and as an impact investor while engaging in deep study of our multiple interconnected systemic crises that led to the founding of Capital Institute in 2010.
John was a member of the Long Term Capital Oversight Committee that managed the $3.6 Billion rescue of the distressed hedge fund in 1998. He is a co-founder and director of holistic ranch management company Grasslands, LLC, and director of New Day Farms, Inc., and the Savory Institute, and an advisor to the UNEP Finance Inquiry, and Richard Branson’s Business Leader’s initiative (“B Team”). In spring 2014, John was humbled to receive a nomination to the Club of Rome; he is now a full member.
John writes the “Future of Finance” blog, which is widely syndicated on platforms such as The Guardian, Huffington Post, CSRWire, EcoWatch’s blog, and the New York Society of Security Analysts’ Finance Professionals’ Post. He has appeared on Frontline, and been interviewed by the New York Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Barrons, WOR radio, Real News Network, INET, Think Progress, The Laura Flanders Show on GRITtv, Thom Hartmann, and The Free Forum Show with Terrence NcNally.
John received a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU. He can be reached at jfullerton@capitalinstitute.org.
John’s mission: “It has to do with reconnecting and integrating the traditional wisdom that we’ve let go of together with our modern scientific understanding of how the universe works, and applying that insight to our economic system design, in particular into the financial system that powers the economic system.”
John’s one-line message to the world: “Place your faith and retain hope in this idea of the regenerative potential that exists for sure, even if we can’t quite see it.”
8 PRINCIPLES OF A REGENERATIVE ECONOMY
- Journey of the Universe by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker
- Exponential growth can’t go on
- Federal government can print money for crises similar to Depression era
- We need government money to transform systems quickly – like fossil fuels into renewables
- Stephanie Kelton and Randall Ray: Modern Monetary Theory – handling crises more important than balancing the budget.
- We can’t continually expand ecological footprint. The Green New Deal (GND) still in false idea we can grow ourselves to prosperity.
- Regenerative economy like a continual motion machine, more abundance from the abundance we have. A robust circulation.
- Our economy needs to function like living systems function.
- Permaculture is the foundation of a regenerative living system.
- The idea of living systems goes back to Aristotle and Goethe – reconnect with indigenous wisdom.
- Limits to Growth seminal about exponential growth on a finite planet. His mission to deliver this info. Donnella H. “Dana” Meadows is one of the authors.
- Left Wall Street – it can’t see the truth re exponential growth.
- Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy by Peter Brown
- Need balance between masculine and feminine — women smarter about resiliency.
- Empowered participation, the principle of in-balance and right relationships, robust circulation
- Universal Basic Income for everyone? Great idea.
- Billionaires violating principles of robust circulation.
- COVID made his suburban house more valuable – financial gain from COVID. Unfair.
- Revisit estate tax – heirs shouldn’t get vast fortunes
- Idea! Predistribution and not redistribution of wealth – commons portfolio we all own gets 25% of value after company reaches billion dollars in market cap.
- Why is Wall Street doing so well? No sense. We are in collapse – of sorts. Huge change underway.
- Club of Rome – has a good initiative on rebuilding the economy.
- Herman Daly’s Ecological Economics
- Nobel Prize in Economics for William Nordhaus – his climate model says target is 3.5 degrees Celsius. WRONG. End of life
- Divine feminine deeper sensing than logical analysis
- Capitalnstitute.org — it’s THE site — John’s list of books he likes is there
Very nice!
How true.
Dearest Suzanne- My eternal thanks! I have finally had time to listen to your John Fullerton podcast. Probably it has taken so long because I have always been bamboozled about the subject of money! HOWEVER his words are probably the most important wisdom (other than Brian Swimme ) that have entered into my brain for my entire life. Please share with him what I write the following.
John – I have come to believe that because humans have been living in a patriarchal culture for the last 2,000+ years that we presently have a primal pain. Our modern culture has lost honor and respect for the feminine (half the population). If women are placed in positions of power and influence (Melinda Gates) to have a voice in decision making (Ruth Bader Ginsberg) about education, healthcare, economics, government and the environment that will create the necessary balance of input to create regenerative economics for our species to continue on this planet. In my study of the indigenous cultures they saw, knew and experienced the natural ecological balance of the feminine and masculine as expressed in nature. My thinking is totally aligned with yours. It was a pleasure to hear your wisdom!
Suzanne – I am eternally grateful for this podcast with John Fullerton!
I love you saying this. I kept telling people that if the idea of money bamboozles you, as it does so many people, listen to John. Also, he has that rare personal quality, like Brian Swimme has, that melts you to how sweet he is. He connected with David Lorimer after David heard the podcast, and John will be doing something with David’s Scientific and Medical Network (SMN). You must not have heard the program that Anne Baring just did for SMN, which is the clearest tracking of what’s happened to the feminine. It’s only open for replaying to SMN members, but, honestly, you would adore it so much that it would be worth it to you to be a member to be able to listen to it, plus they have the best roster of speakers and Zoom interactions among members. Anne is in England, where we connected when I did my shooting for my documentary crop circle, What on Earth?, and she’s been a valuable ally of mine for a long time.
Fabulous and so true by John!! I am, myself, seeking to apply his 8 Regenerative Principles to my own being and my own life. These are universal life precepts for a “RE” life of renewal, reinvention, regeneration that apply to every living system from one-celled microorganisms to supernovas to us as individuals, earthlings, and Americans. I will be on the Chat with John!! How kool is that! Thanx, thanx, thanx Suzanne for facilitating this regenerative process of win-win symbiotic and sustainable sharing!
I was late getting to see this and we’ve already had our chat that both of us were on. What a treat that was for everyone! We should do more of that online, with smart people sharing their thoughts being more interesting to me than listening to lectures with Q&As.