Effective Corrective Action

According to market fundamentalists, equality is not an issue. Dismissing the issue of a finite ecosystem, they believe that poverty is best ended by growing the economy to bring up the bottom. If we lived in a world of endless resources and open frontiers, this might be a possibility. This, however, is not our reality. In the absence of a strong commitment to policies that maintain an equitable distribution of income, conventional economic growth increases the wealth gap even as it destroys the environment.

Effective corrective action will require a number of approaches, including:

• Income policies that assure every person access to an income adequate to meet basic needs and favor those who produce real value through productive work—for example teachers, entrepreneurs, factory and service workers, family farmers, agricultural laborers, and hospital attendants—over those who profit from financial speculation and passive financial returns. 
• Progressive taxation and public spending policies that continuously recycle wealth from those who have far more than they need at the top to those at the bottom who lack access to the basic essentials of a secure and fulfilling life. 
• Equitable development policies. Land use and regional development policies that limit sprawl, support multi-strata development, and prevent geographical division by class and race and between affluent and blighted neighborhoods.
• Broad participation in ownership and access to commonwealth. Work and ownership policies that minimize the class divide by encouraging every person to engage in productive work and to share in the benefits and responsibilities of ownership. Broad access to the shared wealth of the commons is also essential.

[See also the framing story for the Indicators Task Group]