OntheWilderSide

from the Green Party of the United States:

Did you catch Alan Greenspan on television last Sunday morning?

The former chair of the Federal Reserve, who learned during his career that the slightest indications on his part resulted in major market panics, was outspoken on the problem he sees with our economy.

Greenspan said:

Our problem, basically, is that we have a very distorted economy in the sense that there has been a significant recovery in a limited area of the economy amongst high-income individuals. Large banks…and large corporations…are in excellent shape.  The rest of the economy – small business, small banks, and a very significant amount of the labor force, which is in tragic unemployment, long-term unemployment – is pulling the economy apart. The average of those two is what we are looking at, but they are fundamentally two separate types of economy.

The Green Party has known for years that America has two kinds of economies – the economies that buy the wealthy new cars, new homes, and new gadgets, and the economies that keep working people and unemployed people in debt to banks and on the edge of homelessness and starvation.

This is why we’re proud that Green Party, including Howie Hawkins, our candidate for Governor of New York, are drawing attention to the fact that “the U.S. has the greatest inequality among the industrial democracies” and are calling for progressive tax laws to stimulate the economy in a more localized, balanced manner.

Earlier this week Ralph Nader endorsed Howie Hawkins, the “ex-Marine, author, long-time citizen advocate, working blue collar teamster and public interests thinker“.

We need more candidates like LeAlan Jones, running for U.S. Senate in Illinois, who are calling for a restructuring of our economy based on a national living wage, creation of state-owned banks, and new taxes (or enforcing existing taxes) on the super-rich.

The Green Party has known for years that our economy is out of balance and aims to transform more of our natural resources into cheaper, less durable goods produced for lower and lower wages.

That’s why our national platform calls for a “sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation”.

The Green Party has known for years that the numbers Congress and our administrations base their policies on – GPD, the Consumer Price Index, quarterly gains and losses – are short-term measures intended to promote growth without end.

Does that sound like a sensible policy?  That’s why our national platform calls for leaders that will “counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that policies are responsible to future generations“.

Perhaps Alan Greenspan isn’t ready to join the Green Party yet, but we are ready for him and his concern about our “distorted” economy.  Greens are working to set the economy right by making serious changes.  This is a serious effort that needs serious support, not from corporations and their candidates funds, but from the people we work to represent.

Filed under: 3rd party, economy, election, elections, governor, grassroots democracy, Green Party, new york, New York State Politics, News, politics, Ralph Nader, Senate, sustainability, sustainable Tagged: | Alan Greenspan, federal reserve, Illinois