Weekend Economists Take a Shot in the Dark, September 28-30, 2012

[bread_and_roses]

44. "Manifesto for a Post-Growth Economy"

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/30

Here’s the good news. We already know the types of policies that would move us toward a post-growth economy that sustains both human and natural communities. It is possible to identify a long list of public policies that would slow GDP growth, thus sparing the environment, while simultaneously improving social and individual well-being. Such policies include:

shorter workweeks and longer vacations;
greater labor protections, including a “living” minimum wage, protection of labor’s right to organize, and generous parental leaves;
guarantees to part-time workers;
a new design for the twenty-first-century corporation, one that embraces rechartering, new ownership patterns, and stakeholder primacy rather than shareholder primacy;
restrictions on advertising;
incentives for local and locally owned production and consumption;
strong social and environmental provisions in trade agreements;
rigorous environmental, health, and consumer protection (including fees or caps on polluting emissions and virgin materials extractions, leading in turn to full incorporation of environmental costs in prices);
greater economic equality with genuinely progressive taxation of the rich (including a progressive consumption tax) and greater income support for the poor;
increased spending on neglected public services; and initiatives to address population growth at home and abroad.

I just skimmed this real quick but it looked like a decent sort of summary - things we already know, but a useful presentation.