New

Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda - - Thom Hartmann explains why there's nothing normal about a middle class, and why, "If a nation wants a middle class, it must define it, desire it, and work to both create and keep it."

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If the GDP is Up, Why is America Down? - - Using the GDP, the currently accepted measure of prosperity, war, pollution, resource depletion, violent crime, and disease are all counted as ADDING TO prosperity. Does this make sense? (This article replaces "What if... we measured prosperity in new ways?")

Indicators Training Course - - You've read about Genuine Progress/Sustainability indicators and you're thinking, "If only my community made its planning decisions based on them and not on simplistic indicators like 'jobs' or 'growth'". So, go ahead, show folks in your area how to create a local set of indicators! This one-day training course on sustainable community indicators can be used by:

• individuals as a self-directed introductory course,
  
• organizations that work with communities on sustainability issues,
  
• community groups that are thinking about starting an indicator project.
  
  

Measuring Well-Being - - A Canadian initiative to pass legislation that would replace Canada's use of GDP as the primary economic indicator with GPI-style measurement. "The Canada Well-Being Measurement Act aims to establish a measuring system that distinguishes activities which benefit people and ecosystems from activities which result in and from the degradation of our circumstances. It would reflect quality of life and maintain natural resource accounts."

Perverse Incentives- Strategies for Reform - - A summary of the effects of subsidies (agriculture, fuel roads, etc.), with suggested strategies for improvement. The final part of an extensive treatment of the topic commissioned by the Earth Council. (37k)

Resource Depletion - Donella Meadows - - This article points out a dangerous flaw in the logic of popular strategies for dealing with resource depletion.

Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda - - Thom Hartmann explains why there's nothing normal about a middle class, and why, "If a nation wants a middle class, it must define it, desire it, and work to both create and keep it."

The New Economics - - A quick, concrete look at some of the flawed economic thinking that is responsible for many of our current and impending problems. Some nice, everyday examples of how the GDP misindicates the true state of the economy, and a realistic explanation of why we are still using this erroneous measure.

What is the Genuine Progress Indicator -- GPI? - - Yet another overview of the new way to look at the economy., this one written by Redefining Progress, the people who brought the idea to popular attention with an article in The Atlantic Monthly.