New Op-Ed on Social Wealth by Riane

Hi Everyone -

Please check out this great Op-Ed piece by Riane tied to President Obama's State of the Union Address - and share with your networks!

http://www.blogher.com/state-union-our-real-social-wealth

Cheers,
Sara

"The Economic Idiocy of Economists" by Mark Weisbrot

Also of interest to Caring Economists:  Mark Weisbrot's Op-Ed piece reporting on the American Economic Association's annual meeting in Chicago, January 5-8, 2012.  Dr. Weisbrot Co-Founded and Co-Directs, with Dean Baker, the Centre for Economic Policy and Research based in Washington, DC.

His article first appeared in The Guardian on January 10, with reprints in several national news outlets.  His position was perhaps summed up best as this: "The United States pays about twice as much per person for health care as other high-income countries -- and still leaves 50 million people uninsured.  This is a result of a dysfunctional health care system that has had health care prices rising much faster than those of other high-income countries for decades.  What the budget hawks are basically telling us is that we must assume that insurance and pharmaceutical companies will have a veto over the provisions of health care reform for decades to come.  And that therefore we must find other ways to make up for these excessive costs, including cutting Social Security and other government spending, and pushing us into higher rates of poverty and inequality than we already have."  Click here to access the full piece: The Economic Idiocy of Economists

Nancy Folbre on Women, Work and Welfare

Nancy Folbre, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is a frequent contributor to Economix, a New York Times daily blog.  Two recent posts are noteworthy for their relevance to Caring Economics.

In the first, Folbre observes that income inequality along gender lines has persisted over the past 20 years despite gains for women in other areas of social and political life.  Additionally, class disparities among working women as a whole have intensified, with highly educated women enjoying improved access to employment benefits such as paid leave and flexible work arrangements, while women in low-skilled, low-income jobs have seen their benefits shrink:  Feminism's Uneven Success

The second provides an analysis of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF was created to provide temporary relief during hard economic times.  Unlike other social programs such as food stamps, TANF has been unresponsive to the prolonged unemployment that has characterized the current recession.  Folbre argues that the past social welfare reforms of the mid-1990s are long overdue for new, basic reforms that would bring America's social policies closer to those adopted by the rest of the industrialized world:  Welfare Reform Revisited

Thanks for helping us spread the word!

Hi Everyone,

We so appreciate your help with getting the word out about our program!  Here is a new flyer you can share and forward to others - all the better if you can accompany it with a personal note sharing your experience.

If you would like a .pdf version of the flyer to email out, send me an email:  contact@sarasaltee.com

Wishing you all a very happy and real-wealthy new year!

Cheers,
Sara

What America can learn from Nordic education policies

Hello, CLIC subscribers!  Apologies for the long delay between postings - we're back in action now and gearing up for an exciting next group of Cohorts.  If you haven't already, please let your friends and colleagues know about the Caring Economics Leadership Program.  We are currently accepting applications for Cohorts H-M.  For more information, click here:  Hungry for a new conversation!

During the next few months, in addition to sharing resources, we will be reporting on some of the many creative and compelling practicum experiences of our most recent graduates, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, Micki Reese (Cohort E) forwarded this link to an excellent recent article in The Atlantic about equality in Finnish schools and lessons learned.  Thanks so much for sharing, Micki!

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

Scott Morris is Developing A Model Local Economic Sustainability Project - and Invites Your Help!

We've heard recently from Cohort A's Scott Morris of Iowa, who writes:

  "Back in our first Caring Economics Conversation Leader circle, I was just on the cusp of launching a pilot of the then "Hometown Hero Rewards Program" here in Fairfield.  Well, it worked.  The town loved it.  So we kept fighting the good fight, and developed the governance and structure (not to mention an already cash-flow positive business model!) for an administrative Cooperative we've come to call "myLocal Cooperative."  

Right now, we're in the midst of a crowd-funding campaign to raise $25k by Thanksgiving Day with the hashtag #thiswayup.  Here's the link http://mylocal.coop/thiswayup/

We're looking to pulse this out through ALL of our networks, from those here locally to those connected to Katie Teague's Money & Life film (which we're also to be featured in) and beyond.  Crowd-funding campaigns succeed as much as they are shared, or at least that's what I'm told!

In any case, myLocal is not only my baby, but it's also a vehicle for implementing and reporting on CPS's new quality of life indicators.  You can count on me to ensure that happens as soon as possible, as it's also a point of personal passion. :)"

Thanks for your great work, Scott!  I know that many of our Fall conversation leaders share your passion for community-based economic solutions and for finding ways to integrate social wealth indicators at the community level.  

Good luck on the This Way Up campaign!  Keep us posted!

Jane Morba's Occupy Wall Street Experience

Hi everyone,

Jane Morba of Cohort F submitted the following story for The CLIC.  Thanks, Jane!

I experienced Occupy Wall Street NYC on 11.3.11, the day an organized group rallied in front of Goldman Sachs at 12.noon. I have been wanting to go in for weeks and finally had a set date.

I was following WBAI.org radio station to keep up with the OWS cause that particular morning to know the where about to meet. I felt part of the 99% and sympathetic to all the issues at hand. I also had a chat with Riane during my Cohert session, she mentioned go and be seen, let the energy come towards you and dialogue about the main issues. My team leaders were also very helpful. I have felt determined to go in, sign or no sign, although we discussed a sign.

As a photographer, I brought my still & video camera to the event and was very prepared. I needed all my hands. Coming in from NJ, I planned to walk down and meet the group at the steps of Goldman Sachs to protest and document. I tried to get someone to come with me but plans fell through so I went alone. Arriving to the sounds of drums I knew I found the group. I walked in and immediately felt at home, I focused
on documenting as much as possible. Video, camera, It was a strong group, all ages empowering each other to stand strong. I thought there were about 100 people, it was the People vs. Goldman Sachs trial and march.
13 people sat in front of GS and held the protest & energy, everybody was chanting, I filmed away, got so close a women cop yelled to me back off, I thought I am in it now, it felt good. Chris Hedges and 12 others were arrested, I respect all of them so much and people were chanting ʻthank youʼ to each and everyone being taken away by the police.

We continued chanting and then a call & response was sent to everybody to walk back to Liberty Park, to assist those arrested. We continued on and I chanted. This is what democracy looks like with the group, photographing away. I never felt so connected to a cause and group of mindful folks. Drums were leading the pack, I documented front and back, it was incredible, returning 6 long blocks, shadowed by cops on motorcycles, so many people were watching or documenting and putting out there voices. I was empowered
knowing I was doing such the right thing, Interesting, one guys said to me always to careful there can be traps like on the brooklyn bridge when a net was thrown and arrested people, it was serious and no joke, I appreciated the advise. Back to camp, I was blown away by the massiveness of the group, rows of tents,
people everywhere, organized, visiting from all over, signs, and expressions. Someone asked me where I was from and I said NJ, this guy said he was a history professor from Virginia and said his students were very excited. I interviewed him what a caring economics looks like, he was clearly articulate and I shared flyers of the partnership way.

We had a positive exchange and he said all OWS camps are stronger right now. I will piece my video all together. I felt so connected, so strengthened by the numbers and narratives in NYC, I believe that working with the ʻCaring Economicsʼ & Partnership way for a sane world where caring for families will benefit everybody, that is clearly what any sane person would believe. It is said over and over, there is such insanity at banks like Goldman and so glad I was there that day.

- Jane Morba, Cohort F

Global Gender Gap Report 2011 and "The War Against the Poor"

Thank you to Molly Freeman of Cohort D for sharing these! 

Below are links to a slideshow of Forbes’ Top 10 Countries for Women and the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2011, upon which the ranking is based.  The Report contains international facts and statistics that Conversation Leaders will find useful for presentations in various countries.  We have added it to the CLIC's library of Key Policy Reports.

Ten Best Countries for Women

Global Gender Gap Report 2011

Also submitted by Molly was this comprehensive article by Frances Fox Piven on “The War Against the Poor,” an excerpt of which follows:

"Some facts: early in 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 14.3% of the population, or 47 million people - one in six Americans - were living below the official poverty threshold, currently set at $22,400 annually for a family of four.  Some 19 million people are living in what is called extreme poverty, which means that their household income falls in the bottom half of those considered to be below the poverty line.  More than a third of those extremely poor people are children.  Indeed, more than half of all children younger than six living with a single mother are poor.  Extrapolating from this data, Emily Monea and Isabell Sawhill of the Brookings Institution estimate that further sharp increases in both poverty and child poverty rates lie in our American future."

For the full length article, click here:  The War Against the Poor

Notes on the evolving definition of "work"

Many thanks to Joan Basset of Cohort D and Sharon Rose, our program administrator, for submitting these two ideas regarding our evolving definition of "work".  From another class Joan is taking, she shares the following quote from Work in America (Pitt-Catsouphes, M., Kossek, E. & Sweet, S (Eds), pp. 2-3.):

"We can come closer to a multi-dimensional definition of work if we define it as 'an activity that produced something of value for other people.'"

Along those same lines, this October 1 article from Employee Benefit News contains references to research indicating that when employers provide workplace policies that give employees more flexibility in their schedules, employee retention, employee satisfaction, and the company’s bottom line are all improved. The article makes the case or extending flexible benefits to nonexempt (hourly) employees because, while flexible benefits are now available to a full 80% of salaried employees in the U.S., they are almost never conferred to full-time nonexempt (hourly) employees.

Hourly employees require and value flexible work schedules as much as salaried employees:  Nixing "9 to 5"

Development expert's advice for preventing famine and ending hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa: Empower Women

Many thanks to Mundy Viar of Cohort E for sharing this great article about food security in Sub-Sarahan Africa!

Women are the major producers of food crops in Africa, because culturally it is their role to feed the family.  More than half 

of Africa's farmers are women, with most tending crops on plots of land they don't own. World food production experts believe that granting land rights to women and increasing their access to production technologies could increase yields on small farms, which feed the bulk of the population, by 20 to 30 percent.  With the world's population predicted to grow from today's seven billion people to nine billion by 2050, and 49 percent of that growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, "The fate of the small land holder could effectively determine the world's long-term food security."  The key to stave off famine, of course, would be to empower women farmers, since they are the primary food producers.

For the full story about the recent proceedings at World Food Prize meetings in Des Moines, Iowa, click on the link below:
Impact of empowering women farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa