Brave New Economy
The following article is an excerpt from our latest printed Ecosprinter titled Reclaim Your Rights! – The Social Issue. We decided to bring you the articles from this edition in a digital form as well.
by Katja Raiher
Can our economy ever stop exploiting humans and the environment the way it does today? I believe it can. If only with immense efforts from politicians and citizens alike. And I am not alone: An entire movement is working on the idea of a fair and just future economy, an “economy for the common good”!
Their main belief is that money, orgenerating profits, should stopbeing a purpose in itself. It mustfunction solely as a means to an end. The “end”,in this case, is an economy whose foremost goalis the wellbeing of its members. And as everyone knows, money is not thedecisive factor there.
In order to politically steer such areform, if not a revolution, asophisticated taxation system is needed:the “balance of common good”. It con-sidersfour main goals a company or corporation shouldwork towards:
- Human dignity
- Solidarity and justice
- Ecological sustainability
- Transparency and participation
If a company causes the deforestationof the Brazilian rainforest, for instance, it would mean a bad balance and thus paying higher taxes. Onthe other hand, allowing fordemocratic participation withinthe company would improve the balance andcut the company’s taxes significantly.
In order to illustrate this idea, letus imagine an ordinary workingday of a bank employee, Sarah. Sarah lives in the future, where this newconcept has already beenestablished.
She works in a small regional bank:in her branch office only about5 people are employed. Her office doesnot have economic pressure to expand, since thesuccess of companies is not measured by the amountof profit they generate. Sarah walks in wearingher nice blue uniform. The clothes have beenproduced in an environmentally friendly wayand by employees working under fair conditions. Thanks to the newtaxation system, it would costher office even more to buy clothes madeunder exploitative conditions.
In her job, Sarah manages thedistribution of loans. For eachcase, she needs to consider whether the investmentwill benefit society and the environment or not. The better the expectedeffect, the smaller theinterest rates. No bank is concerned withinvesting in dubious stock anymore.
For lunch the cook serves pizzatopped with vegetables from the office’s little urban garden. The employees decided to invest last year’ssurplus in this. Fresh veggiesand a higher “common good” ranking– what could be better for the little bank?
In the afternoon, a small assemblywill take place. The employeesneed to decide on the future wage oftheir new boss, Sebastian. All agree that since Sebastianwill take on most of the responsibilities ofthe branch office, he should have a higher in-come.In the unlikely case his branch goes bankrupt, he will be most liabletoo (the 2008 manager scandalshould not repeat itself). Most decisions inthe offices are made transparently and with solidarityin mind for each other. One can imag5ine there is no rivalry or envy betweenSarah’s colleagues.
Their working day ends after sixhours. The labour is stress-free and at the same time everyone is motivated to do their best. Except forJeff who was really tiredtoday. He recently became a father and will soon take a year off tospend time with his youngfamily. Naturally, he will still receive 75% of his salary every month.Sarah’s other colleague, Emily, loves taking care of animals. She always makes a detour to the localanimal shelter before goinghome. And Johann? He is a hobbypainter, and has already rushed back to his canvases.Next month a local gallery will host an exhibitionwith his work. All these activities are possiblenow that people are not falling into their bedsafter 10 hours of work a day. Everyone may contribute to society according totheir possibilities and interests.
You doubt all of that can really beachieved? Well, then watchcompanies implement “common good”concepts already! — https://www.ecogood.org/en/
The initiators of the movement explicitly state that these concepts are not final, and their realisation strongly depends on the democratic sovereigns who will formulate the exact conditions. It all depends on the people. So, now that the seed is planted in your heads, go ahead, spread it, and change the economy for (the common) good.
Katja studies media, communication and psychology in Mannheim, Germany. Her motto is that it is only with the heart that one can see green. Hence she is a member of the German Old and Young Greens. Currently, Katja is an editor for a young green magazine, the Zitro. In Mannheim, Katja lives right next to a coal-powered energy plant. Every time she takes a stroll over the bridge and sees the smoke, Katja remembers that we still have a long way to go and the first step always means tackling our immediate environment.