2010 Platform :: Economic Justice & Sustainability
Green economics is
rooted in
ecological economics. Our economy should serve us and our planet. Our
economy
should reflect and respect the diverse, delicate ecosystems of our
planet.
Our current economic system is gravely
flawed. It
is unjust and unsustainable because it is premised on endless economic
growth
and destruction of nature. Our market economy, by externalizing the
environmental and social costs of greenhouse gas emissions, is creating
the
greatest market failure in history: climate change, and its devastating
effects. Our government's top economic goal - increasing Gross Domestic
Product
- impels us to perpetually intensify our resource use and environmental
destruction.
Green economic policy places value not
just on
material wealth, but on the things which truly make life worth living –
our health, our relationships, our communities, our environment, and
building
peace and justice throughout our nation and the world. We aim to
maximize our
quality of life with a minimum of consumption. We aspire to less
"stuff" but more happiness. We propose a shift away from materialism
to help people live more meaningful lives as we save the planet from
climate
change and ever larger mountains of waste. We need to acquire the
ability to
distinguish between need and greed.
We must also end the colossal waste of
taxpayer
funds for armaments and war, to reduce our nation’s federal debt, and
fund our environmental and social needs.
Greens intend to provide a green job to
anyone who
wants one. We support using the tax system to bring more equality to
our
nation. Rising income inequality makes us all poorer in myriad ways.
More equal
societies are happier, healthier, safer and greener.
Greens supportly
strong local economies and regional trade. The best model of economic security is for a
community and region to be
largely self-sufficient in the production of its necessities. We
support not
the corporate control of “free trade” – which, through the
machinations of the World Trade Organization places the enrichment of
multinational corporations above the level of national laws – but
“fair trade,” which protects communities, labor, consumers and the
environment. Local economic vibrancy and regional trade keep more money
in the
community and the region, rather than going to distant corporate
headquarters.
This is the most sensible model for economic security.
Greens will change the legal design of
the
corporation so that it does not maximize profits at the expense of the
environment, human rights, public health, workers, or the communities
in which
it operates. We believe the giant multinational corporation is the
world’s most potent force for environmental and social destruction.
Unlike other political parties in the
modern era,
the Green Party views economics not as an end in itself but as a
service to
community development through the building and strengthening of
community bonds
that constitute the social fabric.
Greens are defenders of the commons --
the vast
trove of wealth owned by the people, the social and tangible assets we
inherit
from generations past. Most people living in this country yearn for a
more
vibrant and lively commons, such as a richer community life, more parks
and
protected wilderness, clean air and water, more silence, better access
to
information and knowledge, and a more nourishing culture. We must stop
big
business from undermining and stealing our common wealth, such as our
public
forests and minerals, the fruits of federal research, the public
airwaves and
the Internet.
A.
Ecological Economics
To create an enduring society we must
devise a
system of production and commerce where every act is sustainable and
restorable. We believe that all business has a social contract
with
society and the environment--in effect a fiduciary responsibility--and
that the
concepts of socially responsible business and shareholder democracy can
be
models for prospering, successful business.
- We call for an economic system that
is based on
a combination of private businesses, decentralized democratic
cooperatives,
publicly owned enterprises, and alternative economic structures.
Collectively,
this system puts human and ecological needs alongside profits to
measure
success, and maintains accountability to communities.
- Community-based economics constitutes
an
alternative to both corporate capitalism and state socialism. It values
diversity and decentralization.
Recognition of limits is central to this
system.
The drive to accumulate power and wealth is a pernicious characteristic
of a
civilization headed in a pathological direction. Greens advocate that
economic
relations become more direct, more cooperative, and more egalitarian.
Humanizing economic relations is just
one aspect
of our broader objective: to shift toward a different way of life
characterized
by sustainability, regionalization, more harmonious balance between the
natural
ecosphere and the human-made technosphere,
and
revival of community life. Our perspective is antithetical to both Big
Business
and Big Government.
- Greens support a major redesign of
commerce. We
endorse true-cost pricing. [See section E.1.];
True Cost Pricing
We support production methods that eliminates waste. In natural
systems,
everything is a meal for something else. Everything recycles, there is
no
waste. We need to mimic natural systems in the way we manufacture and
produce
things. Consumables need to be designed to be thrown into a compost
heap and/or
eaten. Durable goods would be designed in closed-loop systems,
ultimately to be
disassembled and reassembled. Toxics would be safeguarded, minimally
produced,
secured, and would ideally have markers identifying them in perpetuity
with
their makers.
- Sustaining our quality of life,
economic
prosperity, environmental health, and long-term survival demands that
we adopt
new ways of doing business. We need to remake commerce to encourage
diversity
and variety, responding to the enormous complexity of global and local
conditions. Big business is not about appropriateness and adaptability,
but
about power and market control. Greens support small business,
responsible
stakeholder capitalism, and broad and diverse forms of economic
cooperation. We
argue that economic diversity is more responsive than big business to
the needs
of diverse human populations.
- Greens view the economy as a part of
the
ecosystem, not as an isolated subset in which nothing but resources
come in and
products and waste go out. There is a fundamental conflict between
economic
growth and environmental protection. There is an absolute limit to
economic
growth based on laws of thermodynamics and principles of ecology. Long
before
that limit is reached, an optimum size of the economy is reached which
maximizes human welfare in an holistic
sense.
- We support a Superfund for Workers
program as
envisioned by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union in 1991. Such
a
program would guarantee full income and benefits for all workers
displaced by
ecological conversion until they find new jobs with comparable income
and
benefits.
- The Green Party supports methods,
such as the
Index of Social Health Indicators, the Index of Sustainable Economic
Welfare,
and the Genuine Progress Indicator, that take into account statistics
on
housing, income, and nutrition.
B. Measuring Economic Progress – Economic Growth and the Steady-State Economy
Economic growth has been a primary goal of the American policy. Corporations, politicians beholden to corporations, and economists funded by corporations advocate a theory of unlimited economic growth stemming from technological progress. Based upon established principles of the physical and biological sciences, however, there is a limit to economic growth.
American economic growth is having negative effects on the long-term ecological and economic welfare of the United States and the world. There is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and ecological health (for example, biodiversity conservation, clean air and water, atmospheric stability).
We cannot rely on technological progress to solve ecological and long-term economic problems. Rather, we should endeavor to make lifestyle choices that reinforce a general equilibrium of humans with nature. This requires consciously choosing to foster environmentally sound technologies, whether they are newer or older technologies, rather than technologies conducive to conspicuous consumption and waste.
- Economic growth, as gauged by increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is a dangerous and anachronistic American goal. The most viable and sustainable alternative is a steady-state economy. A steady-state economy has a stable or mildly fluctuating product of population and per capita consumption, and is generally indicated by stable or mildly fluctuating GDP. The steady-state economy has become a more appropriate goal than economic growth in the United States and other large, wealthy economies. A steady-state economy precludes ever-expanding production and consumption of goods and services. However, a steady-state economy does not preclude economic development - a qualitative process not gauged by GDP growth and other measures that overlook ecological effects.
- One way to measure the economy is to assess the value of non-monetary goods and services and measure the rate of infant mortality, life expectancy of people, educational opportunities offered by the state, family stability, environmental data, and health care for all people. Another measure is to quantify human benefit (in terms of education, health care, elder care, etc.) provided by each unit of output. Measuring the gap between the most fortunate and the least fortunate in our society, for example, tells us how well or poorly we are doing in creating an economy that does not benefit some at the expense of others.
- For many nations with widespread poverty, increasing per capita consumption (through economic growth or through more equitable distributions of wealth) remains an appropriate goal. Ultimately, however, the global ecosystem will not be able to support further economic growth. Therefore, an equitable distribution of wealth among nations is required to maintain a global steady-state economy. A global economy with inequitable wealth distribution will be subject to continual international strife and conflict. Such strife and conflict, in turn, ensures the economic unsustainability of some nations and threatens the economic sustainability of all.
C. Curbing Corporate Power
People before profits
Our Position: Greens want to reduce the economic and political power of large corporations, end corporate personhood and re-design corporations to serve our society, democracy and the environment.
Unelected and unaccountable corporate executives are not merely exercising power in our society -- they are ruling us. Greens will reduce corporate powers and privileges, including by stripping them of artificial "personhood" and constitutional protections. The Green Party supports strong and effectively enforced antitrust laws and regulation to counteract the concentration of economic and political power that imposes a severe toll on people, places and the planet.
Greens believe the legal structure of the corporation is obsolete. At present, corporations are designed solely to generate profit. This legal imperative -- profit above all else -- is damaging our country and our planet in countless ways. We must change the legal design of corporations so that they generate profits, but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health, workers, or the communities in which the corporation operates.
One point remains unequivocal: our planet cannot afford business as usual any longer. Because corporations have become the dominant economic institution of the planet, we must compel them to serve human and environmental needs, so that our peoples, nations and environment may live long and prosper.
Green Solutions
- End corporate personhood.
- Federal chartering of corporations
that
includes comprehensive, strict and enforceable social responsibility
requirements.
- Strengthen the civil justice system
to ensure
that it holds corporations strictly liable for corporate crime, fraud,
violence
and malfeasance. This would include revoking the charters of
corporations that
routinely violate safety, health, environmental protection or other
laws.
- Empower shareholders to stop abuses
by the
managers they hire through a structure of democratic governance and
elections.
- Enforce existing antitrust laws and
support
even tougher new ones to curtail the overwhelming economic and
political power
of large corporations.
- Increase funding for and strengthen
oversight
of federal antitrust enforcement.
D. Livable Income
We affirm the importance of access to a livable income.
- We call for a universal basic income (sometimes called a guaranteed income, negative income tax, citizen's income, or citizen dividend). This would go to every adult regardless of health, employment, or marital status, in order to minimize government bureaucracy and intrusiveness into people's lives. The amount should be sufficient so that anyone who is unemployed can afford basic food and shelter. State or local governments should supplement that amount from local revenues where the cost of living is high.
- Job banks and other innovative training and employment programs which bring together the private and public sectors must become federal, state and local priorities. People who are unable to find decent work in the private sector should have options through publicly funded opportunities. Workforce development programs must aim at moving people out of poverty.
- The growing inequities in income and wealth between rich and poor; unprecedented discrepancies in salary and benefits between corporate top executives and line workers; loss of the "American dream" by the young and middle-class - each is a symptom of decisions made by policy-makers far removed from the concerns of ordinary workers trying to keep up.
- A clear living wage standard should serve as a foundation for trade between nations, and a "floor" of guaranteed wage protections and workers' rights should be negotiated in future trade agreements. The United States should take the lead on this front - and not allow destructive, predatory corporate practices under the guise of "free" international trade.
E. Fair Taxation
Our Position: Federal
and state
taxes must be strongly progressive.
Our current tax system is outrageously
unjust. It
is riddled with loopholes, subsidies and dodges for corporations and
the
super-rich. Most working people pay too much in taxes compared to
corporations,
multi-millionaires and billionaires. Many of our biggest and most
profitable
corporations pay little or no tax. Much investment income is taxed at
less than
the rate workers pay.
We can afford to cut taxes for most
people if we
make corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share. Then we can
cut them
even more when we halt our nation's wasteful spending on wars, weaponry
and
militarism.
We call for progressive taxation,
shifting tax
from individuals to corporations, taxing "bads"
not
"goods,"
taxing
unearned
income
at
the
same
rate
as
earned
income, taxing speculation on Wall Street, and cutting corporate tax
giveaways.
We will institute comprehensive tax
reform to
simplify the tax system. We will eliminate loopholes and other
exemptions that
favor corporate and wealthy interests over tax justice.
Small business, in particular, should
not be
penalized by a tax system which benefits those who can "work" the
legislative tax committees for breaks and subsidies. We support
substantive and
wide-ranging reform of the tax system that helps create jobs, economic
efficiencies and innovation within the small business community. We
will end
"corporate welfare." Smaller businesses are the U. S. A's great strength. Greens believe government
should have a
tax policy which encourages small and socially responsible business.
Political democracy remains a distant
promise
without economic democracy. A principal instrument for achieving
economic
democracy is our tax system. Taxes are the means whereby we fund our
public
services. They can also help create equity, justice, health and
sustainability.
Green Solutions
1. Cut taxes for wage-workers
- Exempt people earning less than
$25,000 per
year and families earning less than $50,000 per year (adjusted for
inflation)
from the federal and state income taxes.
- Exempt food, clothing, prescription
medications, other necessities and second-hand goods from sales taxes.
2. Fair taxes for corporations and the wealthy
- End corporate welfare, such as the
bailouts for
Wall Street, the big banks and the automobile industry; subsidies for
agribusiness,
Export-Import Bank loan guarantees; tax abatements for big box stores;
the tax
loophole for “carried interest” from private equity and hedge fund
managers; tax deductibility for advertising and business entertainment;
offshore tax avoidance schemes; giveaways for new sports stadiums and
casinos.
- Impose a financial transaction tax on
trades of
stocks, bonds, currency, derivatives, and other financial instruments.
- Block financial transactions with tax
havens,
to stop tax evasion.
- Decrease the $1 million home value
cap on the
mortgage interest tax deduction for federal income taxes, to reduce the
tax
subsidy provided to those living in the most expensive homes.
- Restore the estate tax.
- Apply the Federal Insurance
Contributions Act
(Social Security and Medicare) taxes to investment income and to all
levels of
income, not merely the first $106,800 earned.
- Oppose the privatization of Social
Security.
- Enact a wealth tax of 0.5% per year
on an
individual's assets over $5 million.
3. Eco-taxes to help save the planet
- Establish a system of carbon taxes on
all
fossil fuels, to begin to reflect the real environmental cost of their
extraction and use. Carbon taxes should be applied as far upstream as
possible,
preferably when possession of the carbon-bearing fuel passes from
extraction
(for example, coal mine; oil wellhead or tanker; gas wellhead) to the
next
entity in the supply chain (for example, coal shipper or utility; oil
refiner
or importer; natural gas pipeline). Offset potential regressivity
for lower income individuals via the Green Tax shift that lowers income
taxes
and/or other approaches.
- Eliminate tax subsidies for the oil,
gas, coal,
nuclear and timber and mining industries.
- Enact a Green Tax Shift that shifts
from taxing
people and work (via income and payroll taxes) to taxing natural
resource
extraction, use, waste and pollution.
- Enact a system of Community Ground
Rent/Land
Value Taxation that distinguishes between the socially and privately
created
wealth of land, by increasing the taxes on the former to retain for
society the
value that it collectively creates and lowers them on the latter to
reward
individuals for their initiative and work.
- To ensure that prices reflect their
true
environmental cost, enact a system of True Cost Pricing (TCP)
for goods and services. TCP is an accounting and pricing system that
includes all
costs in the price of a product. TCP
charges extractive and productive industries for the immediate or
prolonged
damage (pollution of air and water) and diminishment of natural
resources
caused by their acts.
- Impose a carbon fee on goods imported
from
nations with lower carbon taxes than in the U.S., based upon the carbon spent in manufacturing
and
transporting them to the U.S.
4. Taxes for a better, healthier USA
- Simplify the tax code. Make it
transparent,
understandable and resistant to the machinations of powerful corporate
and
wealthy interests.
- Eliminate tax incentives to send jobs
overseas.
- Raise taxes on tobacco, alcohol, soda
pop and
other junk food.
F. Local Economic Involvement
Our Position: Greens
support
reforms that give communities more control over their own local
economies.
Greens support decentralization, and
call for a
community-based economics whose aim is local prosperity and
self-sufficiency.
We support local production, local
manufacturing, local sales, local recycling
wherever and whenever possible.
We encourage face-to-face relationships with local business owners and
shopkeepers.
Successful local Green communities
nurture
everyone of all ages, generate good jobs and housing, and provide
public
services; creating cities and towns that educate everyone, encourage
recreation, and preserve natural and cultural resources; building local
governments that protect people from environmental hazards and crime;
and
motivating citizens to participate in making decisions.
Green Solutions
- Protect local businesses from the
predatory
pricing practices of chain and "big box" stores.
- Support incentives for co-operative
enterprises, such as consumer co-ops, workers' co-operatives, credit
unions and
other institutions that help communities develop economic projects.
- Allow municipalities to approve or
disapprove
large economic projects case-by-case based on environmental impacts,
local
ownership, community reinvestment, wage levels, and working conditions.
- Allow communities to set
environmental,
consumer, human rights, labor, health and
safety
standards higher than federal or state minimums.
- Invest in the commons: rebuild
infrastructure;
improve mass transit; protect and restore the environment.
- Support local living wage laws.
- Establish local currencies such as
Time
Dollars, Ithaca Hours and BerkShares, to
strengthen
local economies.
- Enact place of origin labeling.
- Enact corporate "good character"
laws, requiring corporations, when applying for a permit, to disclose
all
violations of law they have committed. Empower officials to deny
permits based
on such information.
G. Small Business and the Self-Employed
Greens support a
program that
counter acts concentration and abuse of economic power. We
support many
different initiatives for forming successful, small enterprises that
together
can become an engine of (and sustainable model for) job creation,
prosperity
and progress. Small business is where the jobs are being
created.
Over the past decade and a half, all new net job growth has come from
the small
business sector.
The Green economic model is
about true
prosperity - Green means prosperity. Our goal is to go beyond the
dedicated
good work being done by many companies (referred to as "socially
responsible business") and to present new ways of seeing how business
can
help create a sustainable world, while surviving in a competitive
business
climate.
We believe that
conservation should be
profitable, and employment should be creative, meaningful and fairly
compensated.
Access to capital is often
an essential
need in growing a business. [See section I. Banking and Insurance
Reform]
The present tax system acts to
discourage small
business as it encourages waste, discourages conservation, and rewards
consumption. Big business has used insider access to dominate the
federal tax
code. The tax system needs a major overhaul to favor the legitimate and
critical needs of the small business community. Retention of capital
through
retained earnings, efficiencies, and savings is central to small
business
competitiveness. Current tax policies often act to unfairly penalize
small
business.
- Government should reduce unnecessary
restrictions, fees, and bureaucracy. In particular, the Paper
Simplification
Act should be seen as a way to benefit small business, and it should be
improved in response to the needs of small businesses and the
self-employed.
- Health insurance premiums paid by the
self-employed should be fully deductible.
- State and local government should
encourage
businesses that benefit the community especially. Economic development
initiatives should include citizen and community input. The type and
size of
businesses that are given incentives (tax, loans, bonds, etc.) should
be the
result of local community participation.
- Pension funds (the result of workers'
investments) should be examined as additional sources of capital for
small
business. [See section J. Pension Reform]
- Insurance costs should be brought
down by means
of active engagement with the insurance industry. Insurance pools need
to be
expanded.
- One-stop
offices
should be established by government to assist individuals who want to
change
careers or go into business for the first time.
- Home-based and neighborhood-based
businesses
should be assisted by forward-looking planning, not hurt by out-of-date
zoning
ordinances. Telecommuting and home offices should be aided, not
hindered, by
government.
H. Work and Job Creation
There is plenty of work to do that does
not
jeopardize our future, does not widen the gap between the richest and
the
poorest in our society, and that can enrich
our
communities. We must encourage the creation of these
opportunities.
People whose livelihoods depend on supporting remote, multi-national
corporations cannot be expected to support changing the system.
The Green Party proposes a
third
alternative to a job or no job dichotomy: that is to provide everyone a
sustainable livelihood. The need of our times is for security, not
necessarily
jobs. We need security in the knowledge that, while markets may
fluctuate and
jobs may come and go, we are still able to lead a life rooted in
dignity and
well-being.
The concept of a "job" is
only a few hundred years old; and the artificial dichotomy between "employment" and "unemployment" has become a
tool of social leverage for corporate exploiters. This produces a
dysfunctional
society in various ways: (1) It is used to
justify
bringing harmful industries to rural communities, such as extensive
prison
construction and clear cutting of pristine forests. (2) It has been
used to pit
workers (people needing jobs) against the interests of their own
communities.
(3) It has created a self-esteem crisis in a large segment of the adult
population who been forced into doing
work that
is irrelevant, socially harmful, or environmentally unsound.
We will also promote
policies that have
job-increasing effects. Many people will still need jobs for their
security. We
need to counterbalance the decline in jobs caused either by new
technology,
corporate flight to cheaper labor markets outside our borders, or the
disappearance of socially wasteful jobs that will inevitably occur as
more and
more people embrace a green culture.
To begin a transition to a system
providing
sustainable livelihood, we support:
I. Banking and Insurance reform
Greens will overhaul
the financial
industries to end their culture of impunity and to prevent them from
committing
fraud or malfeasance so severe as to drive our nation into a massive
recession
or depression.
Since finance, banking, and insurance
institutions
occupy a privileged position of power at the center of commerce, this
special
advantage brings with it special social responsibilities. We must
ensure that
the institutions chartered for these roles take that responsibility
seriously
and serve the public interest.
Greens aim to reform the financial
industries to
eliminate usury (exorbitantly high interest rates on loans) and ensure
that
they meet their obligations to taxpayers and local communities.
1. Banking reform
- Break up our nation's largest banks
and
financial institutions so that none is "too big to fail." End
taxpayer-funded bailouts for banks, insurers and other financial
companies.
- Regulate all financial derivatives,
ban any
predatory or gambling use of derivatives, and require full transparency
for all
derivative trades, to control risk of systemic financial collapse.
Require
regulatory pre-approval of exotic financial instruments.
- Re-enact the Glass-Steagall
Act, which prohibited bank holding companies from owning other
financial
companies and engaging in risky economic transactions.
- Oppose the federal government being
the final
guarantor of speculative investments. During a financial crisis, if the
federal
government and/or a central bank must provide relief, it should be
given in an
equal manner and at the most local level possible, so that benefits are
equitably dispersed and burdens are equitably borne. So rather than
pouring
trillions of dollars into the banking system, they should have provided
direct
mortgage relief to homeowners suffering the most from the housing
bubble and
negotiated with lenders to provide partial loan forgiveness.
- Ensure that low and middle income
people have
access to banking services, affordable loans, and small-business
supporting
capital, especially through credit unions.
- Oppose disinvestment practices, in
which
lending and financial institutions move money deposited in local
communities out
of those same communities, damaging the best interests of their
customers and
community.
- Support the extension of the
Community
Reinvestment Act to provide public and timely information on the extent
of
housing loans, small business loans to minority-owned enterprises,
investments
in community development projects, and affordable housing.
- Strengthen disclosure laws,
anti-redlining
laws, and openness on the part of lenders regarding what criteria they
use in
making lending decisions.
- Oppose arbitrary or discriminatory practices
that deny
individuals or small business access to credit.
- Support development of charter
community
development banks, which would be capitalized with public funds and
work to
meet the credit needs of local communities.
- Support the expansion of co-operative
credit
unions.
2. Monetary Reform (Greening the Dollar)
The crisis in our financial system makes
it
imperative that we restructure our monetary system. The present mis-structured system of privatized control has
resulted in
the misdirection of our resources to speculation, toxic loans, and
phony
financial instruments that create huge profits for the few but no real
wealth
or jobs. It is both possible and necessary for our government to take
back its
special money creation privilege and spend this money into circulation
through
a carefully controlled policy of directing funds, through community
banks and
interest-free loans, to local and state government entities to be used
for
infrastructure, health, education, and the arts This would add millions
of good
jobs, enrich our communities, and go a long ways toward ending the
current deep
recession.
To reverse the privatization of control
over the
money issuing process of our nation‚s monetary system; to reverse its
resulting obscene and undeserved concentration of wealth and income; to
place
it within a more equitable public system of governmental checks and
balances;
and to end the regular recurrence of severe and disruptive banking
crises such
as the ongoing financial crisis which threatens the livelihood of
millions; the
Green Party supports the following interconnected,
- Nationalize the Federal Reserve
Banks,
reconstituting them and the Federal Reserve Systems Washington Board of
Governors under a new Monetary Authority Board within the U.S.
Treasury. The private creation of money or credit,
which substitutes for
money, will cease and with it the reckless and fraudulent practices
that have
led to the present financial and economic crisis.
- The Monetary Authority, with
assistance from
the FDIC, the SEC, the U.S. Treasury, the Congressional Budget
Office, and
others will redefine bank lending rules and procedures to end the
privilege
banks now have to create money when they extend their credit, by ending
what‚s known as the fractional reserve system in an elegant, non
disruptive manner. Banks will be encouraged to continue as profit
making
companies, extending loans of real money at interest; acting as
intermediaries
between those clients seeking a return on their savings and those
clients ready
and able to pay for borrowing the money; but banks will no longer be
creators
of what we are using for money.
- The new money that must be regularly
added to
an improving system as population and commerce grow will be created and
spent
into circulation by the U. S. Government for infrastructure, including
the
„human infrastructure‰ of education and health care. This begins
with the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers warns us
is
needed to bring existing infrastructure to safe levels over the next 5
years.
Per capita guidelines will assure a fair distribution of such
expenditures
across the United States,
creating good jobs, re-invigorating the local economies and re-funding
government at all levels. As this money is paid out to various
contractors,
they in turn pay their suppliers and laborers who in turn pay for their
living
expenses and ultimately this money gets deposited into banks, which are
then in
a position to make loans of this money, according to the new
regulations.
3. Insurance Reform
- Clean up the insurance industry.
Eliminate
special-interest protections, collusion, over-pricing and industry-wide
practices that too often injure the interests of the insured when they
are most
vulnerable. Prohibit bad-faith insurance practices, such as avoidance
of
obligations and price fixing.
- Enact single-payer universal health
insurance.
Until single-payer is established, we support laws that act to make
insurance
policies transportable from job to job.
- Support and encourage the insurance
industry's
efforts for "loss prevention," that is, to reduce the incidence of
death, injuries, disease and other calamities.
- Support initiatives in secondary
insurance
markets that expand credit for economic development in inner cities,
affordable
housing and home ownership among the poor, sustainable agriculture and
rural
development maintaining family farms.
- Prohibit companies from being the
beneficiary
of insurance on their own employees.
4. Broader financial industry reforms
- Support a 10% cap on interest rates,
above
inflation, for credit cards, mortgages, payday loans and all other
consumer
lending.
- Aggressively crack down on crime,
fraud,
malfeasance and tax evasion in the financial and insurance industries.
- Reduce excessive executive pay.
- Support the formation of Citizens'
Utility
Boards to defend the interests of consumers and policyholders.
- Favor a tax on stock, bond, foreign
currency and derivatives transactions to discourage excessive
speculation.
J. Pension Reform
Working people--who own
over $3
trillion in pension monies (deferred wages in effect)--should have
financial
options in where their money is invested apart from the current
near-monopoly
exerted by a handful of managers, banks, insurance companies, and
mutual
funds. Pension funds should not be used for corporate mergers,
acquisitions and leveraged buyouts, corporate decisions that undercut
workers
rights, employment, and retirement while generously rewarding
non-productive
speculation. The current system has allowed vast amounts of
American
workers' hard-earned money to be squandered on job-ending,
plant-moving,
corporate downsizing.
Pension funds are gigantic capital pools
that can,
with government support, be used to meet community needs and benefit
workers
and their families directly.
- Corporate-sponsored pension funds
(the biggest
category of funds) should be jointly controlled by management and
workers, not
exclusively by management.
- Federal law must be changed so that
pension
funds need simply to seek a reasonable rate of return, not the
prevailing
market rate which greatly restricts where investments can be made.
- A secondary pension market
established by the
government to insure pension investments made in socially beneficial
programs
must be considered as one method that could greatly expand the impact
of this
capital market, as demonstrated in the case of federally insured /
subsidized
mortgage lending.
- Prudent pension fund investing should
both make
money and do good work. Creating jobs and supporting employment
programs in
public / private partnerships can become a priority as we seek to
expand
towards opportunities where new jobs are created - small business, not
transnational business. We could target the under- and un-employed. We
believe
there are myriad opportunities for a profound shift in how the capital
of America's workers is best put to use.
K. Anti-trust Enforcement
The Green Party supports strong and
effective
enforcement anti-trust regulation to counteract the concentration of
economic
power that imposes a sever toll on the economy. The anti-trust
division
of the Justice Department has had its scope and powers reduced.
An
explosion of unregulated mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, and
leveraged
buyouts has overwhelmed the federal government's capacity to provide
effective
oversight. Financial and trading markets have become particularly
vulnerable to insider trading. Securities and Exchange Commission
regulation
of these markets has seriously fallen short. Overall, what we see
in
unchecked market power is self-serving abuse of the democratic
political
process, price gouging, loss of productivity and jobs, reduced
competitiveness,
and of predatory and monopolistic practices.
- The Federal Trade Commission must
vigorously
oversee mergers where the combined sales of the companies exceed $1
billion.
- The Justice Department must redefine
"relevant market share" in assessing mergers.
- The Congress must enact its calls for
competitiveness by stopping illegal monopolistic practices.
- We oppose the largesse of government
in the
form of massive corporate entitlements.
L. Advanced technology and Defense Conversion
1. The Green Party supports defense technology transfer towards a peacetime technology-based economy, particularly new industrial applications and developments in the areas of advanced communications, alternative energy, non-toxic battery technology and waste management.
- Consolidation of the nuclear weapons complex should move toward alternative civilian technologies and non-proliferation work, not toward a new generation of nuclear weapon design and production.
- We recognize the need for de-escalating the continuing arms race, and we strongly oppose putting nuclear weapons, lasers and other weapons in space in a new militarization policy that is in clear violation of international law. [See section F. Demilitarization and Exploration of Space in chapter I]
- Let us go forward with government and civilian space programs; research initiatives in sustainability science, environmental protection, ecological economics and transportation, appropriate technologies and technology transfer; environmental sampling and monitoring; systems testing; laser communications; and high speed computers.
- Let us devote a larger percentage of our nation's research and development budget, both private and public, toward civilian use and away from military use. Let us address our chronic trade imbalance in this fashion - not by increasing exports of military weapons and technologies.
- The Green Party opposes patenting or copyrighting lifeforms, algorithms, DNA, colors or commonly-used words and phrases. We support broad interpretation and ultimate expansion of the Fair Use of copyrighted works. We support open source and copyleft models in order to promote the public interest and the spirit of copyright.
- We call for a federal Technology Assessment Office to examine how technology fits with life on Earth, with our neighborhoods, and with the quality of our daily lives.
2. Telecommunications
Advanced telecommunications technologies (many of which came originally from defense applications), such as fiber optics, broadband infrastructure, the Internet, and the World Wide Web hold great promise for education, decentralized economies, and local control of decision-making. We believe we must move toward decentralization in these efforts, carefully protecting our individual rights as we go forward.
- Advanced and high definition TV, digital communications, and wireless communications hold promise and challenge. For example, the public airwaves that will accommodate the new generation of telecommunications technology should not be free giveaways to media giants. An auction and built-in requirements that attach licenses to act in the public interest is needed. Technology provides tools: we must use these tools appropriately and ethically.
- Broadband Internet access should be open to bidding, not simply the current choice between cable or telephone company monopolies, where grassroots Internet service providers must merge or go out of business. Broadband access should be a taxpayer-funded utility, like water and sewer, ending the "digital divide" that keeps low-income folks from access to the Internet.
3. Open-Source Software
Open-source software is necessary to achieve personal, cultural, and organizational security in the face of technological threats brought by corporations and individual criminals.
- Government has a vital role in breaking up software monopolies, not so much by filing antitrust suits, but by buying nothing but open systems. The U.S. Government and the larger states are buyers large enough to influence the computer and software systems through their purchasing. It should be illegal for a government agency to create and store information vital to its operations in a format it doesn't control. Governments should always consider storing information with open-source software and in-house staff instead of only commercial systems, vendors and software. One way to achieve this would be to add a virtual bid for in-house open source deployment whenever a software purchase goes out for bid.
- The Green Party supports protection of software (free or proprietary) by means of the copyright. We strongly oppose granting of software patents. Mathematical algorithms are discovered, not invented, by humans; therefore, they are not patentable. The overwhelming majority of software patents cover algorithms and should never have been awarded, or they cover message formats of some kind, which are essentially arbitrary. Format patents only exist to restrain competition, and the harm falls disproportionately on programmers who work independently or for the smallest employers.
4. Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology - the science of manipulating matter at the molecular level - is poised to provide a new industrial revolution with vast social and environmental consequences. Like nuclear science and biotechnology, nanotechnology is being pursued largely outside of public debate, risking great harm and abuse in its use and application.
The Green Party calls for a halt to nanotechnology development until the following conditions are met:
- Development of full and open public debate about the implications of nanotechnology and the fusion of nanotech with biological materials and information sciences.
- Development of democratic public control mechanisms which would regulate the direction of nanotechnology research and development.
- Expanded research into the environmental and health consequences of exposure to nano-scale materials.
- Development of technology to contain and monitor nano-scale materials, and.
- Development of precautionary safety measures for the containment and control over nano-scale materials.
M. National Debt
Greens will reduce our national debt.
Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have irresponsibly expanded our national debt by trillions of dollars to finance tax cuts for savings of our workers are wealthiest citizens, war, corporate welfare and bailouts of Wall Street and the automotive industry. This debt and the interest that must be paid on it is not sustainable.
Working people and the small business community are bearing a disproportionate amount of the federal debt burden. Yet the federal debt is, to a large degree, the end product of tax cuts for the wealthy and big business, and the military-defense industry buildup.
For many years the federal government borrowed trillions of dollars. Money that should have been going into a better "safety net" for the poor, homes for the homeless, environmental and public lands conservation, sustainable jobs, research and development, roads and bridges, schools and the technologies of tomorrow, has been lost to servicing the national debt. We cannot ignore the consequences of our nation's past deficits and the related costs of debt service.
- Reduce our national debt by
increasing taxes on
large corporations, the super-rich and pollution; and decreasing
expenditures
in some areas, especially for war, armaments and corporate welfare.
- Oppose privatization of Social
Security.
- Increase funding for green jobs,
Social
Security, public housing, higher education, public transportation,
environmental protection, renewable energy and energy conservation.
