[pf] 25 Actions

by Fitzsimmons, Diane

06 December 2000 22:47 UTC

I discovered the web site, Alternatives to Growth Oregon
http://www.agoregon.org through another list-serv I'm on.  I thought pf'ers
might find the following comments, condensed considerably from a document by
the group's president, interesting, in light of our many discussions on
putting words into work.  Many more details on these proposals are on the
web site.

25 actions to end growth in Oregon
1. End subsidies from tax dollars to new housing development.
2. End incentives for new industry to move here. 
3. Restructure the tax system to encourage small families and discourage
large ones.
4. Restructure the tax system to encourage efficient consumption and
discourage wasteful consumption. 
5. Replace the income tax with a progressive consumption tax. 
6. Shift the property tax on land and improvements to a tax only on land.
7. If you want children, have no more than two- and preferably one. 
8. Restrain your own consumption.
9. Determine Oregon's optimal population and ecological carrying capacity.
10. Limit immigration to the United States to be equal to that of
emigration. 
11. Wage another war on poverty and this time win it. 
12. Replace the minimum wage with a living wage. 
13. Redistribute Some Wealth-Or At a Minimum, Stock Options for All. 
14. Break the cycle of child sexual abuse. 
15. Make every pregnancy a wanted pregnancy. 
16. Support full funding for domestic family planning.
17. Support full funding for international family planning.
18. Internalize those externalities. 
19. Reduce the workweek.
20. Identify that unsustainable portion of our economy dependent on growth
and convert it to sustainable pursuits.
21. Make population and consumption political issues. 
22. Spearhead the next capitalist revolution-the sustainability revolution. 
23. Enact campaign finance reform. 
24. Make corporations accountable. Perhaps the key to removing the influence
of big money in political campaigns is to
amend the Constitution, to again 
25. Reverse globalization of trade and finance. 



Comments?

Diane Fitzsimmons
Norman, Okla.