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Executive Summary
Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1861: “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital… Capital is only the fruit of labor.” With this statement, he articulated a truth that reaches beyond economic theory. Labor — the active intelligence of living beings — creates all value. Capital is accumulated labor, a tool rather than a source.
Modern economies have reversed this order. Capital is treated as the origin of wealth, while labor is reduced to an expense. The living world is valued only when it can be priced. This inversion shapes today’s defining crises:
- Ecological destabilization
- Widening social and economic inequality
- Institutional fragility and loss of public trust
- Widespread alienation and erosion of meaning
The core problem is not merely policy failure. It is a misunderstanding of value.
This white paper reconstructs a coherent value architecture:
- Life is the source of value.
- Labor is the expression of life’s intelligence.
- Value is that which supports the continuation and flourishing of life.
- Capital is stored value and must remain secondary and instrumental.
- Institutions steward shared life-support systems.
- Culture transmits the memory of how life renews itself.
From this clarity, regenerative pathways emerge:
- Public-purpose credit to direct investment toward life-supporting projects.
- Cooperative and employee-owned enterprises to restore agency to labor.
- Circular and regenerative production systems rooted in place.
- Governance that aligns with bioregional ecological boundaries.
- Cultural practices that re-integrate work, meaning, and care.
A regenerative economy is not theoretical. It is already emerging wherever life is treated as primary and capital as servant.
The work of this era is to realign our systems with the order that has always been true:
Life → Labor → Value → Capital → Institutions → Culture
This is not a return to the past.
It is the clearing of perception.
It is the return to root.