The paper, by David Hope of the London School of Economics and Julian Limberg of King’s College London, found that such measures over the last 50 years only really benefited the individuals who were directly affected, and did little to promote jobs or growth.
“Policy makers shouldn’t worry that raising taxes on the rich to fund the financial costs of the pandemic will harm their economies,” Hope said in an interview.
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Bubble up works, though.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/economy-growth-gdp-happiness_n_5fad6f57c5b6d647a39cf60c
"It’s a model of economic success ill-equipped to withstand the impact of crises: pandemics, natural disasters, recessions or all three, said Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.
In fact, he said, the growth obsession 'is precisely what got us into this mess in the first place.' Cycles of extraction, production and consumption to feed economies hooked on growth have increased emissions and destroyed nature, exacerbating the climate crisis and increasing the likelihood of more pandemics. It’s a threat to our health, food and water security ― and to our economic stability."
Yay! I hope this catches on.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/eco-friendly-tableware-northeastern-biodegrades/
"Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable.
The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after two months."
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The plastics industry doesn't care that the world is drowning in plastic, where microplastics have been found in the highest elevations and lowest ocean depths, never to degrade. Something has to be done.
https://www.dw.com/en/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-degrowth/a-55539458
Even aside from the existential threat of ecological and economic collapse as we deplete resources, destroy biodiversity and heat up the planet, the assumption that economic growth generally makes us all better off is increasingly questioned.
Developing countries tend to have high growth rates, as more people have disposable income and more markets open for consumer goods. But in industrialized countries, growth generally slows, and efforts to speed it up don't necessarily result in a better standard of living for most people.
The work of economists like Thomas Piketty, author of "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" (which was not only lauded for compiling the most comprehensive data on wealth disparity to date, but was also a surprise bestseller), has shown that over recent decades, ordinary wages in industrialized countries like the US have stopped rising in line with productivity and growth.
The benefits of economic growth have increasingly been going to the super-rich, with the divide between rich and poor yawning ever wider.
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Yep. Even just thinking about it logically, growth cannot continue exponentially when you have finite resources.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-project-results-1.5752714
"ot only did those who received the money spend fewer days homeless than those in the control group, they had also moved into stable housing after an average of three months, compared to those in the control group, who took an average of five months.
Those who received the money also managed it well over the course of a year."
The fear has always been that poor people will just blow the money you give them. Turns out this is not true. Time for a reset.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-18/800-compton-residents-to-get
"It is people like Andrade whom a new guaranteed income pilot program is trying to reach, Compton Mayor Aja Brown said. Later this year, the mayor says, the Compton Pledge will begin giving 800 Compton residents free cash for a two-year period. Brown said she thinks the program will have the greatest number of participants in a single U.S. city."
Several tests going! We'll know soon...
"A person — or persons — showed up at the White House with the virus, and more than 30 people have since become sick, including the president and first lady.
In Labrador, a health-care worker showed up sick, went to stores and worked at the hospital, and no one else caught the disease.
Same disease, different outcomes.
The comparisons tells us a lot about why the novel coronavirus spreads, and doesn't."
The pandemic is touching everything in society now. I am of the opinion that a pandemic just wears human society down so they eventually just try to ignore it and go with the plan of trying to outlive it. Different cultures, however, seem to handle it better than others.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richest-50-165-million-poorest-wealth-gap_n_5f822365c5b62f97bac384cb
"The 50 richest Americans increased their net worth this year to an amount nearly equal to the combined money and assets of the poorest 165 million Americans, which is half of the U.S. population, according to new data from the first half of the year collected by the Federal Reserve.
The rich got richer this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic — while people struggling financially found themselves in even more dire straits. COVID-19, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans, has disproportionally hurt people of color, older people, women and workers in low-paying jobs."
We're heading back to the Middle Ages where the prince had his castle and an army of knights. Everybody else was a serf dependent on the prince. This is definitely going backwards.
"Plastic pollution has contaminated the whole planet, from the Arctic to the deepest oceans, and people are now known to consume and breathe microplastic particles. It is currently very difficult to break down plastic bottles into their chemical constituents in order to make new ones from old, meaning more new plastic is being created from oil each year.
The super-enzyme was engineered by linking two separate enzymes, both of which were found in the plastic-eating bug discovered at a Japanese waste site in 2016. The researchers revealed an engineered version of the first enzyme in 2018, which started breaking down the plastic in a few days. But the super-enzyme gets to work six times faster."
This is great and all, but we really need to find alternatives to plastic in the first place.
In other words, as Covid-19 has killed some 122,000 Brazilians, it has paradoxically driven down poverty and inequality, at least in the short term, and also placed government welfare at the heart of political debate, like a decade ago with the “Bolsa Familia” program that lifted millions. The issue will reverberate in November’s local elections, a dry run for the presidency in 2022.
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People are out of work. Businesses are closed. If there was ever a time to try universal basic income, this is it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-begins-universal-basic-income-trial-three-years-2020-8
"Germany is about to become the latest country to trial a universal basic income after 1,500 people signed up to a three-year experiment into how it affects the economy and the wellbeing of recipients.
As part of the study, 120 individuals will receive the equivalent of $1,430 a month for 3 years, which is just above Germany's poverty line, with their life outcomes compared to another group of 1,380 people who will not receive the payments."
The pandemic has shown that our economic system is not working correctly. Time for changes.
