Economy

How would you promote a sustainable economy in northern California that is shielded from the manipulative exploitations of Wall Street?

Background      Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy      Economic Policy Institute

Susan Adams

We must have a locally sustained and sustainable economy, focusing on real needs of the people who live in the region.   This means green jobs, in alternative energy production, organic and small farming, fishing and aquaculture and small retail and service businesses, not chain stores and big box retail, which suck money out of the local economy.  A WPA like program can help kick start the economy while providing needed infrastructure, roads, schools, and broadband to the North coast of the District.  A stimulus program for infrastructure and small business loans can get the area moving again and create jobs that will then be self-sustaining for all.

Andy Caffrey

My conversion plan will redirect trillions of dollars from the top 1%, from retreating the U.S. empire, ending the war on drugs, legalizing cannabis and ending corporate welfare.  In 1979 the top 1% had 8% of the nation’s wealth. By 2007 they had 23% of it.  So I will fight to restore Eisenhower’s top bracket of 91% until they are back down to owning 8% of the nation’s wealth or less.

Brooke Clarke

There are a number of problems with our basic economy.

First Capitalism is based on the book “Wealth of Nations” which was published in the same year as the Declaration of Independence was signed, 1776.  This was a time were there was no electricity and products were made one at a time by hand, there were no corporations.  The barrier to entry for a mom and pop store was very low, so if there was a store who was over pricing it’s products it was easy for someone to open a store to compete with them.  In this environment the “do what’s in your own self interest” (greed) philosophy of Adam Smith did work.  About a hundred years later Carl Marx wrote Das Kapital saying Capitalism could not work and socialism was a better system.  The U.S.S.R. tried his idea and it failed in 1989.  Capitalism is now failing because Adam Smith’s idea of an “invisible hand” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand) no longer works in modern society.  In the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, based on the life of John Nash, there a bar scene where Nash’s Governing Dynamics is demonstrated.  (http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html#ASvJN) Nash won the Noble prize in economics for his idea that we should do what’s best for each of us (capitalism) AND what’s in the best interest of the group.

Second is that our monetary system is based on money from debt.  The problem is that only money in the amount of the principal borrowed is created, the money needed to pay the interest is not created so there’s never going to be enough money to pay off the debt.  See:  http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html#Sustain

Third is that any growth (there is no such thing a smart growth)  is not sustainable and many aspects of our society depend on growth.  This has implications in many areas of society not just the environment or economy.  For example planning that includes growth is a mistake.

Forth is the dismantling of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which was put in place in response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the great depression.  Here are some laws that are causing today’s problems:
*Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act 1980  (Wiki)
* Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act 1999 (Wiki).
* Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act  2010  (Wiki) does not come close to restoring the checks and balances needed.  In fact Title IX, Subtitle B, Section 929 repeals the Freedom Of Information Act reporting requirement from the SEC allowing them to hide information to prevent prosecuting Wall Street criminals.  It’s part of the Obama ‘Opaque government” plan.

William Courtney

No response received

Larry Fritzlan

No response received

Mike Halliwell

When the only available pension replacement for private sector workers is a 401K investment account, most of this money will find its way to Wall Street.  I favor tax incentives to encourage small business owners to help fund portable defined benefit pensions for average income level and below wage earners.  California’s budgetary dependency on the widely fluctuating capital gains of a small number of top bracket taxpayers is responsible for most of our current state budget deficit.  I oppose Governor Brown’s proposed tax increases because they would make this problem worse.  I oppose public park closures which will be especially damaging to the tourist economies of North Coast counties, which would not be necessary, if Governor Brown had been firmer in negotiations with his political allies (such as the Prison Guards’ Union).  I would resist sending any more northern California water to Southern California via any sort of peripheral canal scheme.  Ever since I was a reform coalition running mate of Marin county’s Republican State Senator Peter Behr, I have supported conservation measures (such as Behr’s Wild River Bill) which help the northern California commercial fishing industry.

Jared Huffman

I believe all of my positions and my record on the issues of consumer protection, job creation, economic development, and building a sustainable resource economy in the North Coast speak to this.  I’m not sure what specific “manipulative exploitations” this question refers to, but my record of standing up for consumers and promoting sustainable solutions is the best indication of how I will fulfill my duties in Congress.

Stacey Lawson

No response received.

John Lewallen

I have devoted my life to harmoniously harvesting wild seaweed as a healthy food for livelihood, stopping offshore oil drilling and other polluting ocean proposals, and defending sustainable access to ocean food for all Northern Californians. Now I’m working with small farmers, dairy and meat operators to change unfair USDA regulations which are stifling cottage industry agriculture businesses.  I am demanding an end to the federal attack on the legal medical marijuana industry.  In general, I support all citizen efforts to develop small, local businesses where we trade and barter with each other free of onerous federal regulation.

Tiffany Renée

I have worked tirelessly to protect our local economy from the capitalist enterprise that seeks to lower wages of working families for Wall Street profits.  I am a Fellow of the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy class of 2007.  In my class project I campaigned to bring Community Impact Reports to Petaluma.  I was a stakeholder on the diverse committee of community and business leaders that wrote the policy.  We were successful in enacting the reports for large-scale commercial projects.

I wish I could say there is a way to shield us, but it takes more than regulation to build a sustainable economy.  It takes businesses that want build a working economy.  I campaigned for living wage jobs when I ran for city council.  That position was what pushed my opposition to vote for a living wage a month before the election.  I won my seat because of the enormous challenges facing Petaluma’s economy, namely the big box threat to our local jobs and businesses.  And I voted against these projects.  But knowing I’d be in a minority, I also worked to make them better projects.  In the case of Deer Creek, I asked Friedman’s to re-consider that location when all else had failed for them.  And while that project is still in process, I’m glad that Friedman’s will return to provide good, living wage jobs for Petalumans in a retail category that is needed.

At the Federal level we have an opportunity to help small businesses secure Federal contracts by closing loopholes.  Additionally, the Small Business Administration should provide more assistance to local governments in attracting and retaining sustainable businesses.  In Petaluma, we utilized redevelopment money to devise an economic strategy based on a community and business engagement model and then hired a economic development director to implement that plan.  Our local economy has a growing sector of clean and green technology jobs.

At the regional level, I been working to bring Sonoma Clean Power to Sonoma County.  As a founding director of the Regional Climate Protection Authority comprised of local elected government officials, I’ve worked to put bold GHG reductions and renewable energy programs in place in Sonoma County.  We have led the nation in tough goals, working diligently to address the energy grid through smart grid technology, to address energy consumption through the residential and commercial efficiency retrofit programs and to produce local power through the nearly approved clean energy authority Sonoma Clean Power.  These are programs I will promote in DC which are critical to our ecological future on this planet.

I support reclassification of cannabis to Schedule II and regulations at the local, regional and state levels.  We must increase Federal funding for Federal land protections from large, industrial grows that impair watersheds and put people in danger.  City and County governments have their hands tied to manage these complex issues due to legal challenges. The economics of the industry are important to the communities that rely upon it.  Yet, the industry needs environmental oversight that could bring practices in line with greenhouse gas emissions goals through better environmental regulations and address nonpoint source pollution.  Many of our State and Federal lands can be protected through implementing a World Service Corps, as proposed by People’s Lobby.  By putting our recent college grads and Veterans to work in community service jobs like creek restoration, we can protect our watersheds and employ people facing huge unemployment.

As a co-founder of the Petaluma Grange, I am working to block and label GMOs and protect organic farming.  A more locally-focused, sustainable economy requires local food production.  Supporting family and small farmers and people that work the land is an important infrastructure for any region.  In Petaluma, our economic strategy includes a healthy, organic, local food systems.

Daniel Roberts

I reject your hypotheses that Wall Street exploits issues are not related.

Norman Solomon

We must reinvest in America’s workers and families, to rebuild our economy and our social fabric.  I support robust public investment in economic programs that create living-wage jobs.  The government should invest directly in the nation’s infrastructure, and in social services that help stabilize our communities.

Jobs and sustainability must go hand in hand.  As co-chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for the North Bay, I organized public hearings and heard testimony that repeatedly debunked the false choice between jobs and the environment.  By bringing together labor, entrepreneurs and environmental leaders, I saw the potential of good green jobs to provide high-quality employment while safeguarding the environment.

I support policies that strengthen small businesses and protect them from the predatory practices of big box stores and other corporate chains which stifle competition and erode the local tax base.  Small businesses are key engines for job creation and a core part of local economies.

Central to my campaign is support for H.R. 870 – the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act – introduced by Congressman John Conyers, which provides for a federal policy of full employment.  With a one-quarter of 1 percent transaction tax on Wall Street, the bill would generate roughly $150 billion per year in revenues, creating millions of new jobs, while reducing the volume of risky speculative trades on Wall Street.

I will never hesitate to stand up to corporate lobbyists and Wall Street in defense of working Americans, the unemployed and under-employed.  In the early 1990s, I publicly opposed NAFTA before it was enacted.  Widespread evidence shows that NAFTA and other international “free trade” deals have hurt American workers, undermining job security and wages, and should be renegotiated to protect the U.S. economy and the environment.

I support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.  This measure is vital to restoring workers’ fundamental rights, and will help improve wages and healthcare for all American workers.  I support a national living wage and a worker’s right to collective bargaining.  All workers should be treated with dignity and respect.