These are the CASSE blog articles on governance.
Friends, colleagues, and past FWS co-workers,
I once considered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be the world leader in conservation, and was proud to sign on! But that was a long time ago: 1999 to be precise. Today, something is awry at FWS headquarters, and that’s what drove me to retire on October 31.
Warning: President Trump’s national security strategy is going to backfire like a shotgun plugged with mud. In one fell swoop, Trump called for:
1) Locking out foreigners;
2) Growing GDP as the key to national security, and;
3) Better terms of trade.
Now many voters, going down the list, will promptly put a checkmark by one or two of the items, and some (especially Trump’s base) will check all three.
The stock market took a dip, so the Fed will likely continue to keep the interest rate at zero, in conformity with its goal of supporting asset prices by quantitative easing. What is wrong with a zero interest rate? Doesn’t it boost investment, growth, and employment?
There are many things wrong with a zero interest rate. Remember that the interest rate is a price paid to savers by borrowing investors.
Herman Daly discusses the natural alliances between peacemakers and steady staters, and between the growth economy and warfare.
The population problem should be considered from the point of view of all populations–populations of both humans and their things–if we are going to achieve a steady state economy.
Our current economic policy goal is not fit for a finite and entropic world. But what would our economic policy goal be in a steady state economy?
Our economy faces a futility limit, ecological catastrophe limit, and an economic limit. Fortunately, the economic limit will likely be the first we encounter; hopefully we can implement a steady state economy before the others are reached!
Daly challenges the assertion that a steady-state economy is inherently capitalistic and must be instead be based on a socialist system.
What is the best strategy for incorporating limits to growth into economics?
Does Paul Krugman believe GDP growth is making us richer or poorer?
