The Economy--Wealth & Poverty

Economic Recovery or Continued Addiction?

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I recently came across a commentary written by the christian author Brian McLaren about the concept of economic recovery. He brings up some interesting questions about what we mean by the term “recovery”. When a drug addict hits rock bottom and starts on the path to recovery, we usually mean that this person is reforming their ways, learning from their past mistakes and moving forward to a better life without their former addiction. We don’t mean that they are trying to reestablish their more tolerable state of drug dependency similar to what they were experiencing a few months before hitting rock bottom. Yet when we talk about economic recovery, there is disappointingly little talk in the national media about learning from our past mistakes and moving forward to a better life without the former addiction to the illusory phantom wealth from complex risky financial mechanisms, excessive debt,and unsustainable speculative bubbles.

Environment

Imagine a Time When the Eco-Crisis is Over: Another Response

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A few days ago Dave Belden asked us to “Imagine a time when the Eco-Crisis is Over: Then tell us How we Got There”. There are two aspects of “how we got there” – a structural/legal one, and a cultural one. To look at the structural/legal one, it may be good to start by considering a quote from science fiction writer William Gibson, “The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed”. Where can we look to find a society that is close to already achieving what Dave has asked us to consider? Perhaps the best place to look is Scandinavia, which includes Denmark and its capital city Copenhagen. The city of Copenhagen is considered to be one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.

The Economy--Wealth & Poverty

Ethical Principles for Economic Reform

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During the health care debates many religious organizations chose to speak out not by endorsing any specific piece of legislation, but by endorsing some basic ethical principles that should be addressed by any legislation up for consideration. Typically, such principles included the goal of making affordable health care available to everyone, and making sure that such health care was not denied because of previously existing medical conditions. I think this was a very good and effective approach. We have not yet had a similar major debate about economic reform in our country despite the recent economic crisis. Many people are starting to suspect that it won’t happen unless there is a grass roots movement to push for it.

Politics & Society

Are We Living in Ordinary Times?

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I attended Catholic Mass while visiting family members this weekend, and I was intrigued by the following statement from the pulpit – “this is the 33rd Sunday in ordinary time”.   The phrase ordinary time as used here refers to a particular segment of the church calendar year (i.e.  It’s not advent, lent, etc.).   But it raised the bigger question about whether we’re living in “ordinary times” in a larger historical sense.  Would we classify the last 6 months as an extraordinary time in history, or as more of an unremarkable ordinary time?   Have we lived through a temporary lull this summer between recent storms of change, and what will come next?  Perhaps.  How would you classify the last half of this decade? 
The people I discussed this with typically thought we were living in extraordinary times in general, and have been doing so for their entire life.   That led to the humorous observation that we often believe an extraordinary period of human history began roughly at the time of our own birth.  Such is human nature. Such views are a characteristic of exponential rates of change.   The most recent period of history will always seem to be experiencing much more substantial rates of change than previous times, and will therefore seem to be an extraordinary time.   Make no mistake about it; we are living in a time of exponential growth, exponential rates of scientific and technological development, and perhaps exponential rates of social change as well.   We are living in extraordinary times.  
There is an important aspect of exponential curves that we cannot forget though.   If they continue, the rate of change in the coming decades will be even greater than it is today.  There is every reason to believe that this in fact will happen.   So while we are living in extraordinary times compared to previous history, it is likely that the historical impact of the coming decades will be even more significant than what we’re experiencing now.   This means that our “call to action” to engage in helping to direct positive change will continue to grow in importance.

The Economy--Wealth & Poverty

Momentum for Economic Reform?

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During a meeting of the NYC Network of Spiritual Progressives group this week, the topic of discussion turned to economic reform. The original NSP “Covenant with America” dealt with this topic in a general way by promoting a new bottom line in our values system, and in a specific way by promoting the Social Responsibility Amendment for corporate behavior. The discussion at the meeting focused on our disappointment that very little has happened in terms of economic reforms as a result of this past year’s economic meltdown. In fact, some of us were wondering if this is a topic that we could legitimately express anger over. Fortunately, I’m beginning to see some indication that the momentum is finally starting to build for economic reform.

Politics & Society

Conversations at a Tea Party

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I went to my first “Tea Party” rally this past weekend in the city of Kingston in upstate New York . It was a small rally of about 200 people held on the same day as the big Tea Party rally in Washington DC. I went to watch, listen, and talk to some of the people there. Yes, I witnessed a good deal of anger and fear on display, with much of the anger directed at Obama. There was also a small counter protest of people holding up signs in favor of health care reform.

Environment

My Memories of Van Jones

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Van Jones earned his law degree from Yale.  As an African American he would have been heavily recruited by many major law firms with offers of large salaries, but instead chose to go work with the minority communities in California.  He was asked to speak at the first conference for the Network of Spiritual Progressives.  I have a tape of it, and his speech was one of the highlights of the event.   Van Jones wrote a nice commentary praising the NSP that appeared in the Huffington Post in 2005.   More recently he has become very active in the environmental movement, and combined it with his earlier social work by promoting green job programs for poor minority communities. In 2008 the Unitarian Universalists asked him to be the key note speaker at their annual General Assembly conference.  I had the privilege of listening to him give that speech in person, and remember it as one of the most thought provoking and inspiring speeches that I have ever heard.  I wrote a brief summary of his talk here.  I was thrilled almost beyond words when Obama asked him to serve in the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  He was one of the few people I looked towards as a hero.   I was heart broken at what happened in the past few days though. As you may have heard, Van Jones was the subject of a series of vicious attacks by the right wing press who claimed that he was a communist.   Since Van Jones is one of the public fugures most strongly identified as a spokesman for the “eco-capitalism” movement, this entire smear campaign against him was laughable to me.   However, the growing anger and fear in certain segments of our society have claimed another victim, and Van Jones recently resigned his government position.  I don’t know to what extent he was pressured, or if it was entirely his decision, but it was a sad day for the progressive community, and a sad day for America. I can only hope that something bigger will come of this.  Perhaps the minority community that he has been serving will turn further against the anger and hatred promoted by certain elements of the media.  Perhaps this will be a rallying point for the environmental movement.  Perhaps the younger generation, to whom the charges of being a communist or socialist are hollow and irrelevant, will decide to increasingly despise such political mud slinging and the people who promote it.  Perhaps it will motivate more people in the media to speak out against the  tactics of exploiting anger, fear, and lies in such personal smear campaigns. Part of me wants to react with anger at his episode, but the rest of me knows that decisions motivated by anger tend to be very bad decisions.   While this episode brings some satisfaction to a small segment of the population, I can only hope that somehow this will serve as a rallying cry for the larger portion of the population and move society in a positive direction in the end.  This weekend I find myself searching for ways to help make that happen.

The Economy--Wealth & Poverty

Observations from the Woodstock Peace Economy Forum

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‘Peace Rose’ by Peter KuperI had the pleasure of attending the recent Woodstock Peace Economics Forum, held in the town of Woodstock NY (yes, it’s THE Woodstock) on the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock concert. The theme seemed to be “Turning Swords into Wind Turbines.” There was a lot of interesting talk about the impact of the military on our economy, environmental issues, and the state of activism in general. While some participants seemed to have been stuck in old arguments and rhetoric that hasn’t changed much since the 1969 concert, there were some interesting new facts and approaches. Economist Robert Pollin gave the following information from a recent study about the impact of federal spending on job creation.

Culture

What Reflects our Real Moral Values?

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One of the comments made during the presidential primary debates last year has remained stuck in my memory to this day.   It came from Joe Biden, who was recalling some “folksy wisdom” from his father.   His father had a saying that went something like this:  “Don’t lecture me about the moral values you claim to have, just show me your budget so that I can see what your real moral values are”.   As I recall, Joe Biden was making this comment in reference to our national budget, but I shuddered when I think that this commentary applies equally well to my own personal budget.   If our moral values were to be judged by looking at our personal budgets, how well would any of us fare? The idea of a budget being a moral document has been around for several years.  In 2005, Rabbi Michael Lerner along with many other religious leaders sent an open letter to congress referring to the Federal Budget as a Moral Document – a specific expression of the values of a nation.    I want to focus here on how well our personal budgets express our own values though, or those of our families.   In my case you would probably conclude from an examination of my budget that my top priorities were providing a comfortable middle class life for my family and a good college education for my children.   While not exactly shameful, that certainly doesn’t come close to reflecting the full scope of my real values.  Or in fact does it accurately reflect my  real values?  That’s the question I can’t get out of my head.   
I’ve also been thinking lately about a closely related idea that Jim Wallis recently wrote about.  He pointed out that our calendar is also a moral document – an expression of our values and priorities based on how we spend our time.   That gives me something else to think about and work on.

Politics & Society

Empathy and Economic Hardship

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When I was invited by Dave Belden to participate in this blog, I agreed because it gave me a chance to write about some economic issues that I felt strongly about. Future appends will include comments about David Korten’s writings, as well as issues raised in a group I belong to called “UUs [Unitarian Universalists] for a Just Economic Community”. This is also a personal issue for me because about 4 months ago I was laid off from a job that I held for 26 years. I have been engaged in the job search routine and the soul searching that comes with it ever since. When I left my job I received a nice severance package that includes health benefits, so my family’s financial situation is relatively good compared to others.