Degrowth and MMT: A thought experiment
By Jason Hickel, Jason Hickel blog
As Giorgos Kallis has put it, “capitalism cannot survive under conditions of abundance”. MMT provides an opportunity for us to create a post-growth, post-capitalist economy.
Tag: building resilient economies
The Case for Degrowth: Review
By Brian Davey, Feasta
Unless you read a book like The Case for Degrowth it is not obvious that some people are using the word to propose a radical policy package – qualitative, structural changes in ecological, social and economic relations as a necessary alternative to the economy growing quantitatively bigger.
An Open Letter to Research and Degrowth
By Christopher Conrad, Medium
Research & Degrowth should shift trajectories, dramatically, as soon as possible. In what direction? Political science research, and direct organizing. Why? We are running out of time.
What a Milk Carton Can Tell Us
By Gunnar Rundgren, Garden Earth
My milk package, the electric cars, agriculture land use and the wood saving stoves are all examples showing why overall reduction in resources use or emissions (absolute decoupling) through substitution and efficiency is a pipe dream in a growth economy.
In a Pandemic, Billionaires Are Richer than Ever. Why Aren’t they Giving More?
By Chuck Collins, The Guardian blog
We should reorient the rules governing taxes and charity to discourage the concentration of power and decision-making. Taxpayers should not subsidize private fortresses of wealth and power that will exist for generations, controlled by the same families and their professional advisers.
Twenty Questions that Will Make you Rethink Trade
By Rob Dietz, Resilience.org
Trade ought to be a simple thing. I give you something, you give me something else in return, and we’re both better off. But our capitalism-on-steroids society has converted the simple idea of exchange into an overly exploitative monster
Growing the Commonsverse
By David Bollier, Silke Helfrich, Free, Fair, and Alive
But as capitalism teeters under the weight of its own contradictions, leading to such existential crises as climate breakdown, economic inequality, and violent nationalism, an obvious question on the lips of most people is, how can the Commonsverse grow larger and transform the political economy and culture?
People Want a Greener, Happier World Now. But our Politicians have Other Ideas
By George Monbiot, The Guardian blog
There are practical reasons to believe that Normal is a fairyland to which we can never return. The virus has not gone away, and is likely to keep recurring in waves. But let’s focus on another question: if such a land existed, would we want to live there?
So You Want to Downscale the Doughnut ? Here’s How.
By Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics
Today is the launch of Creating City Portraits – a methodological guide for downscaling the Doughnut to the city and turning it into a tool for transformative action.
Spinning a Lifeline in Zapotec lands
By Tracy L. Barnett, Esperanza Project
High up in the southern sierra of Mexico’s state of Oaxaca, an innovative nonprofit business inspired by Mohandas Gandhi is helping Indigenous Zapotec families to weather the economic storm that COVID-19 has brought to the Mexican countryside.
FIRE in this Time
By Vicki Robin, Vicki Robin blog
Against the backdrop of the fire and rage in Minneapolis following the police murder of George Floyd, reminiscent of police beating of Rodney King in LA in 1991, nearly 30 years ago, with many black deaths in between, what could possibly be the relationship of financial independence and the FIRE community to the unraveling in our society?
Could the Covid-19 Pandemic be a Portal to a Viable Society and Economy?
By Mark H. Burton, Steady-State Manchester
The opportunity, the exit, is to use the relatively resilient sectors, elements of the Foundational Economy, supported by key place-based organisations and basic population provisioning, as the key to transform the city-region and make it less vulnerable to the ecosystem shock events that are likely to hit us with increasing frequency, particularly if the present system continues.