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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The picture above shows some of the statues decorating the northern entrance of the Corvinus University in Budapest where the recent Degrowth Conference took place. The building has not always been a university. It once was a place of trade, and the statues over the entrance depict virtues which, back then, were considered central to trade. Virtues like courage, faith, love and honesty. When di...
The Journal of Cleaner Production will be issuing a special volume on the topic of technology and degrowth and is looking for interesting scientific contributions. Abstracts of 400 to 500 words can be submitted until 31 August 2015. The special volume aims to both provide 1) a state of the art selection of current discussions of the role of technology within Degrowth in academia and practice an...
Leben im Bauwagen von Marc Menningmann auf Vimeo Der Fotograf Nico Baumgarten öffnete während der Degrowth Konferenz in Leipzig seinen Bauwagen für Passant_Innen. Wer wollte, konnte sich einen Eindruck von seiner Lebensweise machen und seine Fotoserie "Welcome Home" anschauen, die sich mit alternativen Wohnformen beschäftigt. Im Film erzählt er, was ihn zu dieser Aktion motiviert hat, un...
