The Steady State Blog

It’s unfortunate that the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) got involved so late in the process.  That’s what happens when there is one organization in the United States focused on advancing the steady state economy.  We’re spread pretty thin!

We would advise President-Elect Obama to become the first president to tell it like it is about the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection.  Taking office in the midst of climate change, Peak Oil, and financial meltdown, he can easily override the decades of that destructive rhetoric, “There is no conflict between growing the economy and protecting the environment!”  He can resonate with the public’s dormant common sense that, in fact, there happens to be a fundamental conflict between economic growth and: 1) environmental protection, 2) economic sustainability, 3) national security, and, 4) international stability.

Furthermore, he needn’t feel out on a limb to do so.  He can note, for example, the 2,000 signatures of the CASSE position on economic growth and the 50+ organizations that have endorsed the position:

http://www.steadystate.org/CASSEPositionOnEG.html

As for public policy, there is a long list of fiscal, monetary, and trade policies, currently set intentionally to stimulate economic growth, that can readily be reformed.  There are new policies, too, conducive to a steady state economy.  But let’s not put the cart before the horse.  Obama’s first step should be to clarify the truth about economic growth.  We are confident the public and policy makers can take it from there, and we will be there to help with the necessary policy formulations.