General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe need a new economics
From Econ4's mission statement, a passage outlining the four necessary components of a new, better economy:
" A level playing field: Every child ought to have equivalent opportunities for economic advancement. A childs life chances should not depend upon accidents of birth such as race, gender, or parental income. Access to food, health care, education, and a clean and safe environment are basic human rights. These are not commodities that ought to be allocated on the basis of purchasing power, nor privileges to be bestowed on the basis of political power. A level playing field requires fairness in the distribution of these elements of private and social wealth.
Resilience: A healthy economy is a resilient economy able to withstand unanticipated shocks. To borrow a metaphor from the physical sciences, resilience is the ability to bounce without breaking. We can build resilience into our economy and its infrastructure by following the design principles of diversity and dispersion. The aim is not to maximize efficiency at a single point in time, but rather to minimize economic vulnerability over time.
True-cost pricing: The prices that guide economic decisions in markets and government policies must be based on a full accounting of costs and benefits. When costs such as pollution or benefits such as care for children and the elderly are hidden from view, the result is implicit subsidies and taxes that deflect incentives away from the goal of long-run well-being. Costs that are hidden from view can grow over time, as in the case of global warming pollution; and benefits that are hidden from view can erode over time, as in the provision of unpaid labor for care of dependents. A full accounting of costs and benefits does not mean that non-monetary aspects of well-being such as liberty, community, and life expectancy must be translated into dollars and cents. It means that non-market values should not be ignored and thereby effectively valued at zero.
Real democracy: An effective economy requires transparency, accountability, and democratic governance. Institutions in the private, non-profit and public sectors alike will serve long-run well-being only if safeguarded from capture by powerful players pursuing their own myopic self-interest. This can be secured only by a democratic distribution of power. A central goal of education, including economics education, must be to equip students for a life of active citizenship."
More here - http://econ4.org/about/mission
Thoughts?
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)PETRUS
(3,678 posts)After all, corporations don't exist in nature. (It's questionable whether or not they're even consistent with the idea of a "free market" given their various state-guaranteed protections and privileges.) They are products of legislation, and dependent upon the judicial and executive functions of government as well. And, as we know, government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
For that matter, much of what allows business to operate are legal structures - property rights, contract law, etc. If the current framework fails to "promote the general Welfare" - we should change it.
marginlized
(357 posts)But they're really just doing what they're designed to do: make money.
So the 'easy solution', what you're suggestion, is to simply redefine their charter. Redesign what corporations do.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)ThomThom
(1,486 posts)Why do we need corporations? At least limit them and stop them owning other corporations. Break them up and give other people a chance in the market, some real competition would be nice.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Where all debt is forgiven...that would change everything....suddenly people would be flush with money to spend.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)PETRUS
(3,678 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)Got something against it?....go to hell.
It is like throwing it right back in the face of the faux Christian who wants us to believe we will go there if we follow the way that works for all.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)explaining how, nah uh, it is you liberals that do that.
Nova.
(14 posts)Capitalism is a system that will always progress to a similar way as it has done with wealth and property concentration; to undo a lot of the transition that has happened in the last 40 years or so is much better than doing nothing, but I think instead it would be better to use the growing public frustration to make economic change that will introduce a system that could maintain the principles that the text advocates, instead of rewinding the clock and adding a few intentional beneficial features.