No Need To Trade a Robust Economy for a High Quality of Life

My earlier post, Focusing on Citizens’ Well-Being lays out how many of the world’s developed countries are examining their priorities to ensure a high quality of life for their citizens.  As good as this is, however, it rests on the false assumption that we face a trade-off between a robust economy and a high quality of life for our people; nothing could be further from the truth.  A few things to consider along these lines are:

The green economy.  Cleantech is destined to be the defining industry of the 21st Century; it can’t happen any other way, as the effects of climate change, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity and damage to human health will otherwise render this planet an extremely unpleasant place to live.  Job explosion here isn’t just a prediction; it’s a fact.  As you’re reading this, the U.S. coal industry employees about 50,000 miners, and the solar industry employs 6.5 million people in manufacturing, sales, installation, finance, etc.

A living wage.  If the $15 minimum wage passes, the cost of food benefits programs will go down.  But won’t stores raise prices to compensate for the extra money they will be shelling out for wages? Possibly. But don’t worry—raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would mean that an Impossible Burger would cost all of 17 cents more.  I’m cool on that.

Tax cuts for those who are struggling financially.  One hopes that future administrations will reverse the tax cuts of the past couple of years, 82% of which went to the rich, and give those breaks to those who most need them.  As has been proven on countless occasions, trickle-down economics is a sham concept, invented by the wealthy to further their own enrichment.  When rich people get richer, they invest the windfall in their portfolios, to be horded until it’s handed down to the next generation, who will horde it in turn.  When those who are fighting to keep their heads above water receive money, they spend it immediately on necessities that they were formerly going without, stimulating the economy.

It can be done; we just need to cut through the propaganda that suggests otherwise.