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Chapter IV. SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

Introduction - The Steady State Economy

The Green Party seeks to replace the prevailing conviction that economic survival depends on permanent growth with the countervailing principle that a steady state economy can prosper and thrive and fit within the reality of the finite planet we live on. Our habit of consumption and disposal of "waste" must be reoriented toward the formula of: Re-duce, re-use, re-cycle, repair. Our predilection for quantitative measurement over qualitative well-being pushes us toward the market value of consumer items rather than the human value of education, health, art and all civic contribution to our culture.

We affirm our role as stewards of the Earth and we understand that harmonious interaction with Nature includes recognizing that Nature is our life-support system. Our continuous technological advances are an avenue to the expansion of our economy and upgrading of the quality of our lives. However, protection and restoration of nature’s resources along with human well-being must be the principle that controls this expansion. One purpose cannot defeat another.

1. Economic Democracy:

   Parallel and equally imperative to the above principle, we must constantly align our economic system with democratic principles. When the harmony and balance between these two is lost, we fall victim to a lopsided financial system that undermines democracy. In effect, equal opportunity for all citizens; equal leverage in the market place; equal access to the public goods and services that our government provides; and equal access to legal protection or restitution when citizens are harmed by corporate advantage or exploitation, are necessary to establish economic democracy.

   Thus it is the function and obligation of a democratic government to protect these rights by legislation and regulation of the rules of the game, informed by the public will.

2. Taxation

   Within the framework of economic democracy, the first obligation of government is to design a progressive tax structure that allows wealth to accrue but does not exempt the wealthy from paying into the public coffer its proportionate share of the wealth accrued. Legal regulation must be a countervailing force to prevent the constant drift of wealth and advantage to the few while reducing the rest of society to dependence on the will of those few.

3. Decentralization

   Our Green principle of Decentralization calls for community-based economics that aim toward self-sufficiency first, with regional trade and foreign trade coming next. The physical reality of community-based economics is small business, local banks that invest in the community, credit unions, cooperatives and family farms. In effect, economies of scale in which the wealth generated in a community flows back into that community.

4. Corporate Control

   The present international corporate control of our economy and the free market in which it operates defies democracy and exempts corporations from any obligation to social or environmental responsibility. The “free market” is not free to labor, to labor unions or to minorities. On the contrary, it is the formula by which corporations exploit labor and degrade the environment through their extractive industries and investment practices; Corporations pursue profit under the legal protection of GATT, NAFTA, WTO, IMF and World Bank. All of these treaties protect the capital investment of corporations while they claim their mission global mission (globalization) is the productivity and income of the poor or underdeveloped countries to trade equally on a level playing field. We support the re-writing or dismantling of these treaties and replacing “Free Trade” with fair trade.

5. Displacement of workers

   We support the Superfund for Workers program designed by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union in 1991. Extended to all workers displaced by ecological conversion and other forms of displacement, it would guarantee full income and benefits to all workers.

6. Access to a Livable Income

   Greens call for a universal basic income (also called a guaranteed income, negative income tax, citizen's income, or citizen dividend) for every high school graduate, regardless of health, employment, or marital status. The amount should be enough to cover food and shelter for any unemployed person. State or local governments would supplement the federally mandated amount in locations where cost of living is above the norm.

   1. Job banks, employment programs and job training designed and funded by a public/private partnership and administered by open contract must become federal, state and local priorities. Publicly funded work that serves public needs must be created to employ people who cannot find work in the private sector.

   2. The gap between rich and poor widens every year, and the salary-plus-benefits for corporate upper echelons are100x multiples of the entry level income. This inequity in income matches the wealth gap of the late 19th Century. In effect, the land of opportunity is transformed to feudal capitalism and the social contract, the erstwhile underpinning of our American system is gone.

   3. On the international level, “free” trade must be transformed into fair trade. The rights of labor rather than the exploitation of labor and the protection of the environment rather than its destitution for private profit must become the guiding principle of the international economy.

7. Restructured Taxes

   In keeping with the Green principle of economic democracy, the first obligation of government is to design a tax system that is progressive not regressive; that allows wealth to accrue but does not exempt the wealthy from paying a proportionate share of the wealth accrued; that closes all loop holes and escape clauses for the very rich and corporations; that taxes incomes from their sources, not just salaries. Government regulation is the countervailing instrument that forestalls the constant drift of wealth and advantage to the few and prevents the rest of society from sliding into dependence on the financial advantage of those few.

   1. State income taxes should follow the formula of progressive federal taxes. The income level at which taxing begins need to be higher than presently exists for local and federal taxes.
   2. Corporate share of taxes has fallen from 33% in the 1940s to 7% today, while the individual citizen’s share has risen from 44% to 85%.
   3. Shift investments away from such things as automating the production of disposable products, which reduces the number of jobs. Also, discourage leveraged buyouts and mergers, which extract working capital. Instead, we must promote community development and job creation.
   4. Impose Carbon taxes on all fossil fuels. Those with the highest carbon content would be taxed the most, ranging from coal (highest) to oil to natural gas. Revenues would go into a fund initially earmarked for development of alternative energy. [See section E. Clean Air / Greenhouse Effect / Ozone Depletion on page 47 in chapter III]
   5. Allocate tax funds from carbon tax to expand public transportation, insulation of buildings and the greening of new buildings.
   6. Limit sales taxes to items that are not second-hand and are not classed as necessities.
   7. Prohibit attaching fees to public goods and services that are funded by public taxes; such as the use of public parks, public beaches and museums. Replace fees with donations.
   8. Enact the Tobin tax on financial transactions across borders.
   9. Decrease taxes on labor.
   10. Decrease the cap on the mortgage tax deduction for both federal and state income taxes.
   11. Restore the inheritance tax.

8. Tax Fairness and the Election process
   1. Our political system has lost its democratic balance and candidates for office are beholden to their corporate paymasters rather than their constituents. Once elected, these candidates are still influence by their corporate sponsors and the tax code is written to continue giving advantage to corporations.
   2. Greens call for a tax policy that eliminates loopholes, tax rebates and other subsidies; and that prohibits corporations from chartering offshore to avoid paying taxes. Small business, the self-employed and the working class pay taxes while corporations engage in financial transactions for free. To restore fairness, corporate money must be utterly removed from the election process and from the corporate lobbying that shapes legislation after election.
   3. In effect, political democracy without economic democracy is an empty promise. There must be a level playing field for all parties - labor, small business, the general public, business and finance, all must have the same access and leverage to influence legislative outcomes.

9. True Cost Pricing

   True Cost Pricing (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) diminishment of natural resources caused by their acts. Thus it directs production toward less expensive and environmentally sound products. Consequently, consumers choose such products for their lower price and their safety for society.

   1. In addition, true cost pricing will draw back into the market various cultural/traditional industries that use natural materials and are environmentally safe.
   2. Implementing TCP:
      1. Create environmental taxes such as the Carbon Tax. [See carbon tax in the next section]
      2. All business, public or private, must satisfy the same regulations and perform an Environmental Impact Study before starting work..
      3. TCP domestic industrial policies and regulations shall be integrated with and mandated for all international trade agreements.
      4. Product labeling shall inform consumers of the total cost of the product's ingredients and manufacturing process.
      5. Establish an information clearinghouse, consultant's network, and other communication channels for the exchange of information about ecologically benign techniques.
      6. When TCP of necessary consumer products causes high prices for low income people, the balance must be filled with food stamps and equivalent government subsidies.

10. The Green Principle of De-Centralization and Local Self-Government

    The homogenization and globalization of our economy is more detrimental than beneficial to the principle of de-centralization. The principle of de-centralization calls for community-based economics that aim toward self-sufficiency first, with regional and foreign trade coming next. The backbone of community based economics is small business, local banks that invest in local commerce, credit unions, cooperatives and family farms. In effect, economies of scale in which the wealth generated in a community feeds back to community prosperity and enrichment.

    1. We support local production and local distribution wherever feasible. Government investment and tax relief should be available to help local business get started and become self-sustaining.
    2. Local business must be protected from predatory pricing and undercutting by chain stores.
    3. Financial incentives should assist cooperative enterprises - such as consumer co-ops, credit unions, incubators, micro-loan funds, local currencies, and other institutions that help communities develop economic projects.
    4. Local governments need investigative and legal authority to compel businesses that wish to operate within their jurisdiction to abide by local laws.
    5. Local governments need authority to approve or disapprove large economic projects case-by-case based on environmental impacts, local ownership, community reinvestment, wage levels, and working conditions.
    6. Public land and buildings are public property that should be available for public purposes and should only be leased to private interests when the public declares the property has no public use.
    7. Municipal and county governments should have the authority to set standards of human rights, health and safety and environmental protection that are higher then federal or state minimums.
    8. The US is a federal system of government in which too much authority has gravitated toward the center. De-centralization depends on frequent re-affirmation to restore political and economic authority on the local level. To this end, the federal government must treat as capital investment:
       1. investment in the commons;
       2. reconstruction of the infrastructure of communities;
       3. repair and expansion of transportation lines, especially rail lines between cities;

11. Corporate Control

    The corporate control of our economy by international and national corporations and the free market in which they operate, defies democracy and while relieving them of any obligation to social and environmental responsibility. The “free market” is not free to labor, to labor unions or to minorities. On the contrary, it is the formula by which corporations exploit labor and degrade the environment through their extractive industries and investment practices. Corporations pursue profit under the legal protection of GATT, NAFTA, WTO, IMF and World Bank. All of these treaties protect the capital investment of corporations but impoverish labor, pollute the environment, drain resources and invest their profit somewhere else. This is called “globalization”. The corporate investors claim that their mission is to raise the incomes of the poor and raise their standard of living through economic development. The Green party supports the dismantling or re-writing of these treaties and the replacement of “free” trade with fair trade.

    1. Worker Displacement The major damaging side effect of globalization is the displacement of workers as corporate industries move around the world, looking for higher profits. We support the “Superfund For Workers” program designed by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union in 1991. Extended to all workers displaced by ecological conversion and other forms of displacement, this program would guarantee full income and benefits to all workers when their livelihoods are disrupted by corporate mobility.

    [Draft for 2008 Platform, Chapter IV Sustainable Economy G, H, I, J, K amended by John Ely and reviewed by JE Nov. 2007]

12. Small Business and the Self-Employed
    1. Government should reduce unnecessary restrictions, fees, and layered bureaucracy. The Paper Simplification Act will achieve these reforms by removing bureaucratic blocks to doing business.
    2. Health insurance premiums paid by the self-employed should be fully deductible.
    3. Pension funds (the result of workers' investments) can serve as additional sources of small business capital. [See section J. Pension Reform on page 67 in this chapter]
    4. Insurance costs should be reduced by active negotiation with the insurance industry and expansion of number of insurance pools which workers may invest in.
    5. One-stop public offices are essential for individuals to use for career counseling, business start ups and to guide them through the maze of public services. The modern economy requires constant retraining and redesigning of the work force to keep up with economic and environmental innovations. The federal government and private business must offer apprenticeships and retraining, as an element of industrial and educational policy.
    6. Home-based and neighborhood-based businesses must enjoy the same government planning and assistance to fit within zoning ordinances and city plans that large business enjoy. Telecommuting and home offices should be aided, not hindered, by government.

13. Work and Job Creation

    There is plenty of work to do that does not jeopardize our future, does not widen the gap between rich and poor, and enriches our communities. All citizens should be assured that there is useful and productive work available for them to do. Sustaining our workforce is an essential element in the building a steady state sustainable economy.

    1. A Green industrial policy must be compatible with environmental protection; and similar to the 'eco-Keynsian' motor of economic well-being which includes self-management, renewable energy, and substantive international cooperation in fair trade.
    2. We call for local alternative economy supported by local non-profit development corporations.
    3. Small business is the engine that drives the economy and provides the majority of new jobs. Helping small business with planning and investment would cut their failure rate and help them create more jobs
    4. Reducing taxes on labor will make labor more competitive with energy and capital investment. (See Taxation above.) See G. Labor, under Chapt.II Social justice.

14. Ecological Tax Policy
    1. A principle of Green fiscal and economic policy is an environmentally designed tax code that conforms to thermodynamic principles and is designed to prevent outsourcing and externalizating of social and environmental costs. Renewable energy may directly employ 2 to 5 times as many people as fossil or nuclear energy employs, for every unit of electricity generated, is still cost competitive because it does not drain or harm the environment, and it should be subsidized .
    2. When feasible, retrofit existing buildings for energy conservation and begin the replacement of our transportation system with non-polluting, low impact systems.
    3. Green economics is based on support of self-managed, environmentally sustainable local businesses 3. We oppose the trend toward "bundling" of contracts that minimizes opportunity for small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses.

15. Banking and Insurance Reform

    The Green Party supports banking reform and savings and loan institutions. Lending institutions are chartered by the state to serve the best interest of communities and these charters carry with them both power and responsibility

    1. The government should ensure that low- and moderate-income persons and small businesses, have access to banking services, affordable loans and capital. Loans should be made available to small business at rates competitive to those offered larger business. Greens support disclosure laws, anti-redlining laws, and publicly available criteria for making loans. Greens oppose predatory lending and arbitrary or discriminatory practices that deny credit to small business.
    2. Greens oppose disinvestment practices, in which lending and financial institutions remove money, at will, from local communities where they first invested it. Such disinvestment damages or destroys the community that depended on it.
    3. Greens support the extension of the Community Reinvestment Act and its key performance data provisions that give timely information to the public, on the extent of housing loans, small business loans to minority-owned enterprises, investments in community development projects, and affordable housing.
    4. Congress should charter community development banks, capitalized with public funds, to meet the credit needs of local communities.
    5. Insurance industry regulation is essential to reduce costs by denying special interest protections, collusion and over-pricing and industry-wide practices that often injure the most vulnerable.
    6. Greens support strengthening and enforcement of laws protecting against bad-faith insurance practices, such as avoidance of obligations and price fixing.
    7. Federal laws must make policies transportable from job to job and prevent rejection of applicants by insurance companies because of prior conditions.
    8. We support initiatives in secondary insurance markets that expand: credit for inner city economic development; affordable housing and low-income home ownership; transitional farming to sustainable agriculture; and support for family farms.
    9. Make the practice of a company owning the insurance on its own employees, illegal.

16. Pension Reform

    Working people - who collectively own over $3 trillion in pension monies (in effect deferred wages) - should control how and where their funds are invested. Pension funds are gigantic capital pools that should, with government support, be used to meet community needs and directly benefit workers and their families.

    1. Corporate-sponsored pension funds (the biggest category of funds) should be jointly controlled by management and workers, and draw a rate of return that justifies the investment.
    2. We call for a secondary pension market that insures pension investments are made in socially beneficial programs; and that create new jobs through cooperative models of public-private partnerships.