Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Except What Makes Life Worthwhile"

In a 1968 speech, Robert F. Kennedy warned Americans against measuring progress by wealth alone. His message--that GDP is a terrible indicator of progress--still resonates.



Learn more at the Glaser Progress Foundation.

Rock Steady


The term “steady state” derives from the 19th-century classical economist John Stewart Mill’s assertion that, after a certain period of growth, economic policy makers should strive for a “stationary state” in which capital stock is held relatively constant and population levels are stable. If left unchecked, Mill argued, economic growth would inevitably lead to a decline in human welfare and to irreversible environmental damage.
Read the rest of Susan Arterian Chang's excellent article on steady-state economics at The Investment Professional.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Another Reason to Worry About Climate Change: National Security

“We will pay for this one way or another,” Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a retired Marine and the former head of the Central Command, wrote recently in a report he prepared as a member of a military advisory board on energy and climate at CNA, a private group that does research for the Navy. “We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind.

“Or we will pay the price later in military terms,” he warned. “And that will involve human lives.”

Read the full New York Times article.