Monday, November 01, 2010

Green Party | Public sector cuts are economically illiterate

No comments:
I very strongly agree with Caroline's analysis - just as you cant sober yourself up by continuing to drink more whisky, you cant solve economic, social and environmental problems caused by business-as-usual growth with more...er...business-as-usual growth.

Green Party Public sector cuts are economically illiterate

In an article this week for Compass, Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion, labels the coalition government's public sector cuts as "socially divisive ... environmentally disastrous ... and economically illiterate."

She goes on to emphasise that our economic prosperity "may be built on rotten foundations ... the growth that has paid for our welfare state is built on the exploitation of natural resources, and on the exploitation of people here, and round the world."

"When we talk of a green recovery, we're not talking about a traditional economic recovery boosted by selling some home insulation or building some windmills.

"Millions of environmental campaigners seem to seriously believe that we can address climate change, slow the loss of threatened species and habitats, manage chronic water and resource shortages and put an end to over fishing and continuing soil erosion, whilst pursuing pretty much the same kind of economic growth that brought these natural systems to the edge of collapse in the first place.


"In other words, the trade off appears to be to ignore the inevitable long-term consequences of business-as-usual growth in order to help to protect short term organisational effectiveness. It may make sense from a tactical point of view, but strategically it's unsustainable."

For the full article, please click here:
www.compassonline.org.uk/news/item.asp?n=11429.

Lancet: study on harm from drugs

4 comments:


Given the results of this study we should be taking significant action to tackle legal drugs eg alcohol and tobacco, as well as illegal drugs. Surely there is a strong case for increasing the price of both very significantly through higher taxation? The higher the price the more use is discouraged. We are after all cutting housing benefit, child benefit etc at the moment and the more tax we raise on undesirables like alcohol and tobacco the smaller any cuts would need to be.

BBC News - Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin' says Prof David Nutt

Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack, according to a study published in medical journal the Lancet.
The report is co-authored by Professor David Nutt, the former UK chief drugs adviser who was sacked by the government in October 2009.


It ranks 20 drugs on 16 measures of harm to users and to wider society.
Tobacco and cocaine are judged to be equally harmful, while ecstasy and LSD are among the least damaging...