Flat Tax, Vat Tax, Splat Tax
By Donella Meadows
–February 1, 1996–
There are four questions to ask about any new tax proposal. Will it be simple? Will it be fair? Will it raise enough money for the government? Will it be good for the economy?
The flat tax promoted by presidential candidate Steve Forbes fails on all four counts. But so does our present tax system. Forbes’s contribution [...]
A New Society for a New Economics
By Donella Meadows
–November 3, 1994–
When economist Herman Daly convened the first meeting of the International Society for Ecological Economics in Washington in 1990, he expected 60 or so people to show up, few of them economists. Traditional economists thought of ecological economics, insofar as they thought of it at all, as distinctly daffy.
To Daly’s surprise, that first ISEE conference drew [...]
Impacting Nature — The Damage Isn’t Always Near at Hand
By Donella Meadows
–August 18, 1994–
As they trawl the seafloor for groundfish in the Gulf of Maine, fishing vessels scrape up everything on the bottom, including sponges. Sponges are nursery habitats for young cod. Therefore one fishery is destroying another. That same fishery is overfishing, so it’s also destroying itself.
Hunting whales, says a new report, may do more than eliminate whales. [...]
Cutting Back Too Much
By Donella Meadows
–December 9, 1993–
The scramble to complete a GATT world trade agreement by December 15 is an act of desperation. There is 12 percent unemployment in France, 22 percent in Spain, 25 percent in Ireland. The Japanese bubble has burst. The industrial nations, unable to stimulate their own markets, seek salvation through invading the markets of others. Cars aren’t [...]
Why We Shouldn’t Ask Economists About NAFTA
By Donella Meadows
–September 9, 1993–
More than biotechnology or weapons technology, more than any other change in our rapidly changing world, the globalization of the economy is affecting everyone on the planet, and not for the better. If we value democracy, the environment, or our jobs, we need to keep an eye not only on the North American Free Trade Agrement [...]
