Economic Growth

We live in a global economy where corporations have little loyalty to maintaining decent paying jobs in the United States. Failed policies of corporate welfare and tax subsidies to the already wealthy do little but accelerate job flight and growing economic inequality.

Instead of corporate welfare, government should Invest Tax Dollars in Local Assets that generate long-term growth in the economy, including

• Universities and research labs doing technology research;
• Investments in education, especially for children, where the long-term economic returns multiply over the years;
• Transit and physical infrastructure to enhance local commerce;
• Recreational Facilities, from arts to parks to sports, that should serve the multiple goals of improving the local quality of life, helping attract skilled workers, and enhancing tourism in the community.

One key source of investment funds for the private sector should be using Public Pension Funds for Economic Growth. Such funds now control $2.7 trillion in financial assets across the country and investing a significant part of those assets in local economies would bolster the retirement future for our public workforce by assuring a strong economy, local jobs and tax base in the future. Such pension fund investments should include:

• local venture capital funds
• small business loan funds
• partnership with state universities spinning off commercial ventures
• affordable housing
• investments in underserved communities

Since the United States cannot under-price the global competition, we also need regulatory and tax policies that encourage High Road Workplace Practices that preserve high wages through higher productivity.

• Government contracts and development funds should support Living Wage jobs and long-term reinvestments in the community.
• Community Redevelopment programs should encourage maximum use of all our human and physical assets by promoting investments in communities that have lost jobs.
• Tax Policy should cut the tax burden on productive work, while redirecting taxes to discourage wasteful corporate speculation.

Finally, we need to understand that prosperity is more than the limited measures of goods sold embodied in the traditional GDP growth measures. We need to Redefine Growth Measures to account for the environmental costs and unpaid labor (such as taking care of the home) that is ignored in such measures to define policies that truly maximize family income and well-being. Environmentally Sustainable Growth must be the goal to avoid consumption today coming at the expense of our children's health.