Margaret McCasland wrote: | FYI, if you're too young too remember, a rewording of: "What's | good for GM is good for America," an iconic misquote.
And if you're really ancient, you'll remember Al Capp's ultracapitalist billionaire General Bullmoose, whose motto was "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA" -- a pretty fair representation of the moral position taken by a number of our current CEOs, within the auto industry and without. Katie Quinn-Jacobs wrote: | Sure, it's becoming easier for people to appreciate the pitfalls | of growth capitalism, but is there any other viable option ready | to step in? I see the lack of economic savvy as the weak link in | the sustainability revolution. How do we organize markets without | growth? Is there an economic arm to this movement? I agree that the sustainability movement is in general sadly lacking in economic savvy, but the question assumes that we're in a position to have any influence on the direction the country takes. Tony Del Plato's question "Will we continue to allow 'free market' energy development, especially petroleum?" makes what seems to me to be the same assumption. In fact, "we" are not going to have squat to say about this. I'm more hopeful than I was three years ago that we can have some influence on public policy at the town level and maybe (if we try real hard) at the county level, but beyond that, I think that economic developments at the state and national level will be driven by market forces largely beyond anyone's control; I suspect they're just something we'll have to cope with. I'd rather see us concentrate on local initiatives that might do some good (like AFCU) than waste our energy thinking about how to influence the larger picture. Unless something unexpected happens, it's likely that the unemployment tsunami headed our way is going to force the institution of huge new-new-deal programs that will shape our economic strategy for years to come. Obama is already indicating this. If that's the case, efforts to shape policy at the national and state level would probably best be devoted to getting those programs heading in the right direction (toward rebuilding passenger rail instead of expanding the highway infrastructure, for example) rather than trying to replace capitalism with something more sensible. If history is any guide, we'll be lucky if the anger of the American public over their shattered dreams heads in the direction of welfare socialism rather than fascism. If we're going to have any influence on this, it will probably be through example. Jon _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
