NOEL ORTEGA, noel at ips-dc.org
Coordinator of the New Economy Working Group, Ortega is a contributor to the report “JOBS: A Main Street Fix for Wall Street’s Failure,” which states: “The current U.S. jobs debate is largely limited to arguing the relative merits of stimulating the economy by increasing government spending or by granting more deregulation and tax breaks to the rich and to Wall Street corporations. The need for action to correct the institutional failure that caused the jobs crisis is largely ignored.” The report lists concrete actions:

1. “Redefine our economic priorities by replacing financial indicators with real-wealth indicators as the basis for evaluating economic performance.

2. “Restructure the money system to root the power to create and allocate money in Main Street financial institutions that support Main Street job creation.

3. “Restore the middle class by restoring progressive tax policies and a strong and secure social safety net.

4. “Create a framework of economic incentives that favor human-scale enterprises that are locally owned by people who have a natural interest in the health and well-being of their community and its natural environment.

5. “Protect markets and democracy from corruption by concentrations of unaccountable corporate power.

6. “Organize the global economy into substantially self-reliant regional economies that align and partner with the structure and dynamics of Earth’s biosphere.

7. “Put in place global rules and institutions that secure the universal rights of people and support democratic self-governance and economic self-reliance at all system levels.”

Yesterday, the United Nations released a report titled “World Economic and Social Survey 2012: In Search of New Development Finance” which proposes raising $400 billion by mechanisms such as a 1 percent wealth tax on billionaires.