What’s life on our planet worth? According to Pavan Sukhdev, the lead researcher in a project to place a rental value on nature, the services of earth’s eco-systems are “not priced…not traded in the markets”. That was his verdict at the UN conference on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, where governments searched for policies to protect the eco-systems on which we rely for life on earth. The statement, unfortunately, was false.
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The People’s Budget
De-taxing our Way out of the Crisis
Ronald Banks, Chairman of the Trustees of the Land Research Trust, explores the scope for reducing the tax burden on the British economy
The ‘credit crunch’ and global recession have such enormous implications that it is vital the correct policies are identified and adopted to prevent such episodes in the future. Although the present crisis seems agonizing now, the portents are for things to get worse before they get better. The general remedy is a reform of taxation. If the proposals outlined in this report had been implemented during the recession of 1992, the British economy would by now be larger by additional income of about £890bn, or £15,000 for every man, woman and child, and Britain would have avoided the financial crisis.
“Rentenmark” & the Sovereign Debt
Ron Banks explains how national debts can be funded to foster growth and protect the natural environment
Most European governments are now reducing public services as the austerity approach to reducing the debts accumulated during the boom years. Some – like Greece – have been forced to retrench under the supervision of the IMF. Spain is being pushed by the European Union. Britain’s Coalition Government is voluntarily replacing the Welfare State with something called “the Big Society” in order to reduce the sovereign debt. These policies are deepening the crisis in Europe and could lead to terrible social consequences. But it’s all unnecessary, because there is a more effective route to cutting the national debt and re-launching the economy onto the path of sustainable growth.