Green quantitative easing in the Forest of Dean

Back in 1996, the US President, Bill Clinton was warned that creation of money out of thin air allows wealth to accumulate in the hands of a minority and that this would increasingly lead to social unrest.  

"We can choose to not reform capitalism, leave human beings to die from deprivation – where we are now – and understand that that puts people in self-defense mode."

"When in self-defense mode, kill or be killed, there is no civilization at all.  It is the law of the jungle, where we started eons ago.  In that context, 'terrorism' will likely flourish because it is 'terrorism' only for the haves, not for the have-nots.  The have-nots already live in terror, as their existence is threatened by deprivation, and they have the right to fight back any way they can."

In March 2009, with our presentaion to the opening plenary of the international Economic for Ecology conference at Sumy, we were in the wake of an economic crisis. The presentation concluded with an observation about what has become known as quantitative easing:

"Possibly this has escaped immediate attention in Ukraine, but, economists in the US as of the end of 2008 openly confessed that they do not know what to do.  So, we invented three trillion dollars, lent it to ourselves, and are trying to salvage a broken system so far by reestablishing the broken system with imaginary money.

Now there are, honestly, no answers.  It is all just guesswork, and not more than that.  What is not guesswork is that the broken – again – capitalist system, be it traditional economics theories in the West or hybrid communism/capitalism in China, is sitting in a world where the existence of human beings is at grave risk, and it's no longer alarmist to say so.

The question at hand is what to do next, and how to do it.  We all get to invent whatever new economics system that comes next, because we must."

Almost as our founder spoke, the UK was taking the same path  Recently however, Finance for the Furure has put forward the concept of Green Quantitative Easing which would be used to support infrastructure projects with enviromental benefit to stimulate job creation.

Cash bomb the people, not the banks argues Simon Jenkins  As we had argued for Crimea's Tatars:

"Just as the US now heavily uses smart bombs in warfare, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the equivalent is needed in aid efforts. It is not enough to spend, say, US$ 7 million dollars for five Tomahawk cruise missiles and then spend a fraction of that amount in building a peaceful community which does not merit targeting by missiles. Yet, that is what we have in this case."

This is precisely what has been done 15 years ago for the people of Tomsk, Siberia when our founder Terry Hallman sourced an experimental initiative. He was interviewed about the impact in 2004 , when the concept was introduced to the UK:   

What the Tomsk Regional Initiative had done was to have inverted preceding efforts to introduce a market economy to Russia. Finance simply didn't reach those who needed it most, people in poverty who could be helped to create their own self sustaining livelyhoods.

Part of the proposed solution was collateral free microlending, combined with business education, which manifested in the Tomsk Community Bank managed by Finca. It would lead to the creation of around 10,000 new microbusiness, with a survival rate of 99% in their first year, where there was no safety net. .

Since 2008, we've been banging on the door of the EU trying to draw their attention to a developing crisis in Ukraine.

In 2005, the Forest of Dean became our UK base while we invested in leveraging this approach to microeconomic development in Ukraine as a national scale 'Marshall Plan' strategy.

Our proposal for the UK was to replicate development banks like the one in Tomsk at a community level. It would be supported by what we described as a community funding enterprise. which would underwrite part of the high cost of unsecured lending.  

” Fifty percent of annual surplus will remain in each local community where income is derived, by way of deposit into a local community development bank serving that location. In that locales are part of EU and therefore subject to well-developed rule of law, corruption issues should not present insurmountable barriers such as in Crimea.

Fifty percent of surplus will be retained by P-CED for growth and expansion. Along the way, all employees of P-CED are to be paid at minimum a wage sufficient to guarantee a decent standard of living in accordance with the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights."

What it will mean in practical terms is that funding will be available to local groups who wish to create their own enterprises. Enterpriises to create local renewable energy projects,for example A craft business needing support to bring their product to market, Community owned shops and businesses serving the needs of tourism.

There is a considerable challenge in the Forest of Dean where a £100 million development project threatens what is know as the Northern Quarter. It was anvironmentalist Jonathan Porritt who said of this plan:

“We know that in the Forest of Dean and Cinderford the need for economic development is critical and local people who stand up and argue passionately for economic development in their community have every right to do so.

“When we can find ways of bringing that kind of development into an area like this it’s good.

“But – and it’s a big but – is this really the best way of meeting those objectives to improve the economic livelihoods and the social wellbeing of people in this part of Gloucestershire?

“Is it the best possible option on the table to do all that?"

People-Centered Economic Development derives in part from the work of Carl R Rogers and his person-centred approach to therapy. Rogers believed that by giving people access to the resources they need, they could resolve their own problems, flourish and grow. 

In Gloucestershire one may find other person-centred influences. You'll find them written on the wall in the Dilke Hospital to describe their approach in patient care. 

Why then can't business focus on benefiting people and their environment?

At the European Union, it is being promoted at policy level, as of last year.  Since then, Cooperatives Europe and Fair Trade UK have joined forces to promote people-centred business in sustainable supply chains.

What they say about putting people first, was where it all began 18 years

"At first glance, it might seem redundant to emphasize people as the central focus of economics. After all, isn't the purpose of economics, as well as business, people? Aren't people automatically the central focus of business and economic activities? Yes and no.

People certainly gain and benefit, but the rub is: which people? More than a billion children, women, and men on this planet suffer from hunger. It is a travesty that this is the case, a blight upon us all as a global social group. Perhaps an even greater travesty is that it does not have to be this way; the problems of human suffering on such a massive scale are not unsolvable. If a few businesses were conducted only slightly differently, much of the misery and suffering as we now know it could be eliminated. This is where the concept of a "people-centered" economics system comes in."

What is the purpose of business?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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