Logo degrowth

Blog

Five Proposals for the U.S. Economy

By: Giorgos Kallis

31.10.2016

We at Research & Degrowth are repeatedly being told that our framing won't work. That we are preaching to the choir by the way we frame our proposals, and that we will never convince the broader public. So, here are our policy proposals re-framed in the language of the U.S. elections.

Dedicated to all you framing aficionados out there.

 
  1. Oil-funded tax breaks

Abolish all income tax on incomes lower than $50,000 dollars per year. Finance this tax break by establishing a sovereign carbon fund financed by charges to the oil, coal and natural gas industry and by a carbon fee on trade imports.

  1. Jobs for all, fun for all

Make Friday a day off that we can dedicate to our families, friends and communities. Do not reduce salaries: same pay for four days of work. President Roosevelt did it during the Great Depression. This alone can create 10 million new jobs.

  1. Zero bank debt

No bank should lend more than its deposits. Banks cannot be allowed to create money out of thin air, while all the rest of us have to work hard just to get by.

  1. Freedom Income

Each and everyone should have the freedom to choose how to live their lives free from illness, hunger or fear. Establish a permanent freedom income of $800 per month, for every American. Pay for the income like Alaska did with a sovereign carbon fund. If this is not enough, finance it with a sovereign capital fund, funded by a progressive fee on excessive capital.

  1. Use it or lose it

Hard-working Americans should have the right to inhabit housing assets that are left unused for more than one year for the purpose of speculation.

For the original 10 degrowth proposals, see https://theleapblog.org/yes-we-can-prosper-without-growth-10-policy-proposals-for-the-new-left/

About the author

Giorgos Kallis

Giorgos Kallis is an ecological economist and political ecologist working on environmental justice and limits to growth. He has a Bachelors degree in chemistry and a Masters in environmental engineering from Imperial College, a PhD in environmental policy from the University of the Aegean, and a second Masters in economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. He is an ICREA professor since 2010. Before coming to Barcelona, Giorgos was a Marie Curie International Fellow at the Energy and Resources group at the University of California-Berkeley.

More from this author

Share on the corporate technosphere


Our republication policy

Support us

Blog

COP24: climate protesters must get radical and challenge economic growth

Climate emergency

By: Christine Corlet Walker

At the COP24 conference in Poland, countries are aiming to finalise the implementation plan for the 2015 Paris Agreement. The task has extra gravity in the wake of the recent IPCC report declaring that we have just 12 years to take the action needed to limit global warming to that infamous 1.5ᵒC target. Although the conference itself is open to selected state representatives only, many see t...

Blog

Sommerakademie “spreading degrowth” – Einladung zur öffentlichen Abschlussveranstaltung

Am kommenden Wochenende gibt es die Möglichkeit, auch für Nicht-Teilnehmer/innen der Sommerakademie, sich mit der Verbreitung alternativer Konzepte wie degrowth auseinander zu setzen.  Die Teilnehmer und das Organisationsteam von VÖW und Netzwerk n würden sich sehr über Feedback zu den Ergebnissen der Sommerakademie freuen. Zu diesem Zweck gibt es eine öffentliche Abschlussveranstaltung in Berlin, am kommenden [...]

Blog

Ein ressourcenarmer Lebensstil, schön und gut – aber wie lässt sich dieser erreichen?

Was ist ein gutes Leben und wie kann man ein gutes Leben leben? Eine Frage, die jeder einzelne für sich beantworten muss? Nein, sagen Uwe Schneidewind und Angelika Zahrnt in ihrem Buch „Damit gutes Leben einfacher wird“. Das gute Leben sei auch ein politisches Thema, denn die Politik muss die Bedingungen und Möglichkeitsräume für ein [...]