TAKING CHARGE OF OUR DESTINY: ROAD TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
In a recent air flight from Seattle, WA to Norfolk, VA (across our grand country) fraught with cancellations and delays, I had more than 14 hours to reflect on the media flurry over the last week regarding the proposed U.S. Bailout Package to stimulate our sagging economy.  Primary areas of focus for bailout benefits are financial institutions, manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, health care and education, retail, government, tourism, and a few others that don’t come to mind.  My first thought is that we are simply throwing good money after bad in even considering the scope of these proposals.  The state of our economy and the systems behind it require radical change, not just quick-fixes that only add to the “house of cards” we presently see as our future.
First, all governmental subsidies need to be eliminated.  This would include agriculture, fisheries, forestry, manufacturing, transportation, banking/investments, and energy (traditional, non-renewable forms) subsidies.  These sectors must begin to operate within the traditional constraints of markets rather than artificially conceived goals and on a local basis instead of global demand and distribution.  Within our own country there should be a level playing field where the production of goods and services is available to all and by demand/need of the people, not as influenced by the best lobbyists.
Second, consideration should only be given to fiscal stimulus in the infrastructure area and the health (and elder) care and education area.  Infrastructure that includes natural capital (environmental quality and natural resources) and built capital (buildings, roads, bridges, rail, energy distribution, communications, etc.), is the foundation of American life.  Our natural capital infrastructure needs to be protected for equitable access by all people and for meeting future needs (7th generation of Native Americans).  Our built capital infrastructure needs to be maintained and/or renewed because of neglect over recent decades.  Investment in health/elder care and education supports the only assets (human beings) that truly have longevity and inherent value to guarantee a sustainable future.
Third, everyone should be provided a home, food to maintain a healthy diet, necessary household goods, and needed utilities, at no cost to address staggering poverty in the U.S.  For this governmental support one person in the household would be required to work in an activity that supports the community such as food production/distribution, public services, education, health care, local government, manufacturing, etc.  If a second person in the household wished to work in a business activity, the earnings provided that person would further contribute to the basic wealth of that household.
As for the other bailout sectors identified above, they should be left to their own capacities, not propped up by governmental support (our tax dollars).  The construction sector will benefit because of the many rebuilding needs in infrastructure improvement.  The government sector will benefit from savings in military support adjustments and not wasting money on manufacturing and retail sectors that should instead evolve through attention to real demand and imaginative reinvention.  For example, to encourage this reinvention, hefty taxes should immediately be levied on the sale of any automobile that does not get at least 30 miles per gallon of gas and taxes on the sale of gasoline should be significantly increased.
As for the military, all foreign bases should be closed and all troops brought home to defend the boarders of the U.S.  In addition, 50% of the military capacity should be devoted to public works service for all communities in America as well as for such activities as enforcement of sustainable fishery and forest harvests, surveillance of drug trafficking, and community crime prevention.   Direct and indirect savings from this re-structuring of the military would go a long way in supporting the priority fiscal stimulus needs highlighted above.  And the huge sums of money funneled through the U.S. State Department to help needy communities abroad, should instead be used to support the ideas here that seek elimination of poverty in America for every member of every community.
Can this happen quickly – no!  Will this be painful and require sacrifice – yes!  In seeking system equilibrium – whether the system is economic, human, environmental, or technological – achieving a new equilibrium will always cause disturbance (chaos, stress, uncertainty, disorder, upheaval, struggle, angst), however eventually the system will find a new point of stability and balance.  But do we have a choice, except to make sure major corrections in our economic systems are sustainable – not through short-sighted, quick fixes?
The new form of governance required for whole-scale change instead of quick-fix economics must be eco/geo-regional in context.  In this way the federal government will assure equal consideration to all American citizens across a level playing field where local actions are designed around common issues and interests of the respective regions of the US.
Of course, the devil will always be in the details.  But in order to make sure we are focusing on the correct details, we need to be asking the right questions.  And these right questions must consider how to achieve a new national equilibrium with regards to equitable quality of life for every American without simply putting more resources into already failed economic strategies.  Government should let the economic dust settle and allow the fall-out of doing business as usual to breed new forms of economic initiatives driven by needs, not wants.  Simply enacting stop-gap measures without lasting success will only prolong the inevitable!
The above ideas are obviously emphasizing a focus on “sense of community,” calling for the American people to be concerned for one another and taking better care of the communities we call home.  We don’t need our government to provide the fiscal stimulus in support of the latest technological gadgets or a fancy new car, and the temporary jobs they might promise, in order to accomplish this good old fashion call for healthy communities.  You can bet eventually there will be innovative technology developed by some business to sell us a car or other kind of product that is actually worth our investment.  We need to be in charge of this through our own demand power however, not through governmental economic stimulus (subsidies) packages from dwindling tax dollars that are simply trying to encourage us to spend, spend, spend.  We need to take charge of our destiny!R. Warren Flint, Ph.D.
Seattle, WA  98108
(206) 749-9755
rwflint@eeeee.net - by Warren Flint