Jul 19 2011
Liberating America From Wall Street
House Republicans have planned a vote today on a bill to increase the debt ceiling by the necessary $2.4 trillion, on the condition that it include a constitutional amendment requiring future budgets be balanced. The vote is being held in defiance of President Obama’s pledge to veto it, and will most likely not even make it through the Senate. As the battle over the direction of the national economy continues to rage, writer and economist David Korten says the debate in Washington has been framed too narrowly: by pushing for constant economic expansion (and consumerism) we are condemned to a vicious cycle of paying back old debt by creating demand for new debt. He claims the money system we have lines the pockets of financiers while robbing the rest of us of precious resources. Korten is joined by 18 other economists and nearly a dozen institutions in calling for a new system that would de-emphasize individual profit and start connecting underutilized resources with people and jobs. A new report released today, entitled “How to Liberate America from Wall Street Rule,” outlines the group’s proposal. Korten, who is first author on the report, lays out a blueprint for a “locally-rooted new economy,” and envisions a currency system where no bank is “too big to fail.” Instead, he proposes among other things: the elimination of financial speculation and usury; a fund for public investment in social and environmental capital; and the availability of credit for investing in projects that “enhance community health and happiness.”
GUEST: David C. Korten is the co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, an association of progressive individuals and organizations with a vision for a new economy and co-founder and board chair of YES! Magazine. He is also founder and president of the Living Economies Forum. His books include Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World.
Download the report here: http://www.neweconomyworkinggroup.org/report/how-liberate-america-wall-street-rule
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