alanjjohnstone
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New economic system….so they think
http://news.trust.org/item/20190508170711-h09hs/
“We face a form of capitalism that has hardened its focus to short-term profit maximisation with little or no apparent interest in social good,” Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of global investment manager GMO, wrote.
The vision: a new relationship between the state, local communities and nature aligned behind a more holistic notion of progress than gross domestic product (GDP).
“It is time to acknowledge that the state must play the central role in marshalling a response to looming systemic environmental shocks.
But rather than harking back to the nationalisation and executive wage caps of 1970s left-wing politics, they think governments should support communities to create new, participatory forms of economic activity that can tackle social inequality while also restoring planetary health.
Candidates include: locally-run clean energy projects, worker-owned cooperatives, many kinds of progressive businesses, and regenerative agriculture or rewilding practices that could grow exponentially in a favourable policy environment.
New economic indicators could also be developed through democratic consultations to measure advances in fairness, health or sustainability, building on examples such as the Genuine Progress Indicator, an early attempt to devise a more rounded alternative to GDP…”I’m not a fan of carrying capacity theories but here is the latest
“The world would need 2.8 Earths if everyone burned through natural resources as greedily as the average person in the EU, according to a new study.”
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/content/uploads/2019/05/WWF_GFN_EU_Overshoot_Day_report.pdf
“If everybody in the world had the same ecological footprint as an average EU resident … May 10th would be the date by which humanity would have used as much from nature than our planet can renew in a whole year,” the report said.
The report also found that EU residents are currently consuming twice the amount of resources that the continent’s own ecosystems can provide.
At the national level, all of the bloc’s 28 member states consumed their yearly biocapacity before August 1, when the world consumes the Earth’s yearly biocapacity. The EU had the third largest ecological footprint in the world, behind China and the US.Luxembourg scored worst, using up its yearly biocapacity by February 16. Romania scored best, with its “overshoot day” estimated to be June 12. Germany used up its budget of yearly resources by May 3. United States’ “overshoot day” at March 13 while China’s would be June 14.
Whether it is an endorsement or not to be emulated, one thing is certain, their Twitter (nor our own) has 600,000 followers.
Quite an accomplishment, sad to say, seeing what Galloway stands for, which I have never been able to pin down…except it always appears to be Gorgeous George Gallowayism.
Entire communities might need to be moved away from coasts and rivers as the UK takes urgent action to prepare for an average global temperature rise of 4C, the Environment Agency warned.
The agency said on Thursday that difficult decisions would have to be taken in the coming years to make sure the UK was resilient amid flooding that would not be held back by higher land defences.
Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the agency, set out the regulator’s long-term strategy for tackling flooding and coastal change, which, she said, was a preparation for a 4C rise in global temperatures. The rise is far in excess of the target of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels set in the legally binding Paris Agreement of 2015.
Chinese corruption and imperialism in Venezuela
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/venezuela-china-food/
Every adult in the UK should receive a weekly basic income of £48, according to the recommendations in a new report.
The move could be paid for by scrapping more than 1,000 tax reliefs, a report by Professor Guy Standing, a professor at SOAS University suggests.The report, entitled Basic Income as Common Dividends: Piloting a Transformative Policy, was written by Professor Standing, an authority on the concept of the basic income. He was asked to write it by the Progressive Economy Forum, a left-leaning group of economists.
Standing, told the BBC: “A basic income would be paid in cash, a moderate amount, a basic amount unconditionally to each individual man and woman equally, a smaller amount for a child and the good thing is it would be unconditional and it wouldn’t be means tested and it would be a right, an economic right.”
In March the New Economics Foundation think tank published a report in which it proposed replacing the personal tax allowance with a Weekly National Allowance of £48. However, it did not call it a basic income. A week later the leftwing think tank Compass, suggested a universal basic income of £60 for each adult, £175 for those over 65 and £40 for children under the age of 18.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/the-price-of-plenty-how-beef-changed-america
“…The Jungle’s heart-wrenching critique of industrial capitalism was lost on readers more worried about the rat faeces that, according to Sinclair, contaminated their sausage. Sinclair later observed: “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” He hoped for socialist revolution, but had to settle for accurate food labelling…”
I’m aware that it was and assumed he was a recent member. PJ Penner, if that name rings a bell.
I have no difficulty if he is not a member and simply sourcing his material from our website and blog. He is mostly crediting them to us.
And is increasing the awareness of ourselves in North America which can’t be a bad thing. Robbo should contact him direct.
What is frequently under-reported, Marcos, is Israeli settler systematic and sustained violence against Palestinians on the West Bank, with the acquiescence of the Israeli army
Is the escalation of the US-China trade war going to be the trigger?
Despite the above report throwing cold water over the supposed benefits of UBI , the Labour Party is thought to be going ahead with their version.
A UBI specialist, suggested that the costs could be met by adapting or abolishing the system of personal tax allowances, providing an economically deprived community with a basic weekly income instead of existing means-tested benefits – with the exception of housing benefit.
Marcos, I often ask this question.
When there is absolutely zero chance that the Palestinian’s could win militarily, why do their resistance groups insist upon the provocative strategy of firing rockets into Israel, which are mostly ineffectual. Israel always retaliates with revenge air-strikes which are disproportionate and harms the civilian population yet the Palestinian militants persist poking the Zionist lion.
I can see only one reason, and that the Hamas require a constant state of war with Israel, perpetual conflict, to divert peoples attention from the existence of a privileged elite in control and who blame the Israelis for the poverty and squalor that exists in Gaza and not Hamas itself.
Nobody is denying the economic blockade is devastating in its effect but it has to be conceded that there is also inequality within Gaza – the few rich and the many poor. And occasionally the true war – the class war – manifests itself, and often Hamas actions once again turns it into a national war against Israeli occupation.
What the article describes as the “revolt of the hungry”
Unintended consequences
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-48174218
Prof Stevenson, a specialist in atmospheric chemistry modelling, said: “We desperately need to improve air quality. However, our results suggest that in doing so, we may inadvertently worsen heatwaves.”
A dampener on UBI but I doubt the progressives will heed
Research conducted for Public Services International, a global trade union federation, reviewed for the first time 16 practical projects that have tested different ways of distributing regular cash payments to individuals across a range of poor, middle-income and rich countries, as well as copious literature on the topic. It could find no evidence to suggest that such a scheme could be sustained for all individuals in any country in the short, medium or longer term – or that this approach could achieve lasting improvements in wellbeing or equality.
http://www.world-psi.org/sites/default/files/documents/research/en_ubi_full_report_2019.pdf
