"...the worldview presented in an early environmentalist manifesto co-authored by Stanford Universitys Paul and Anne Ehrlich and John P. Holdrenwho is now director of Obamas Office of Science and Technology Policy--sluggish growth would not be seen as the troubling pattern the Post perceives it to be. In fact, it might be viewed as a positive
Holdren (who advises Obama on climate change and health care) expressed in his 1973 book Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions. That vision held that the world could be a better place if Americans worked, produced and earned less.
In the longer term, it may be that the solution to the employment problem will require a reduction in the amount of work done by each worker in order to create more jobs, wrote Holdren and his co-authors.
Gradually shortening the work week (ultimately to 20 hours or less) or decreasing the number of work weeks per year (companies could have different spring-summer and fall-winter shifts) would accomplish this, they wrote.
Pay would perhaps be reduced but so would many expenses if material goods were built to endure and there was no longer social pressure to consume for the sake of consuming. If people can be diverted from the speedy, mechanized forms of leisure activity now promoted by advertising, the pace of life would undoubtedly slow down, with attendant psychological and physical benefits.
With admirable candor, Holdren and his co-authors conceded that this enviro-economic vision required the redistribution of wealth on a global scale.
One problem that must be faced squarely is the redistribution of wealth within and between nations, they wrote. Otherwise fixing the quantity of physical goods in use would freeze the majority of human beings in a state of poverty.
In the recommendations at the end of their book, Holdren and the Ehrlichs wrote: Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided for every human being.
Obama Advisers Green Manifesto: Americans Will Be Better Off When They Work, Produce and Earn Less - HUMAN EVENTS
In the longer term, it may be that the solution to the employment problem will require a reduction in the amount of work done by each worker in order to create more jobs, wrote Holdren and his co-authors.
Gradually shortening the work week (ultimately to 20 hours or less) or decreasing the number of work weeks per year (companies could have different spring-summer and fall-winter shifts) would accomplish this, they wrote.
Pay would perhaps be reduced but so would many expenses if material goods were built to endure and there was no longer social pressure to consume for the sake of consuming. If people can be diverted from the speedy, mechanized forms of leisure activity now promoted by advertising, the pace of life would undoubtedly slow down, with attendant psychological and physical benefits.
With admirable candor, Holdren and his co-authors conceded that this enviro-economic vision required the redistribution of wealth on a global scale.
One problem that must be faced squarely is the redistribution of wealth within and between nations, they wrote. Otherwise fixing the quantity of physical goods in use would freeze the majority of human beings in a state of poverty.
In the recommendations at the end of their book, Holdren and the Ehrlichs wrote: Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided for every human being.
Obama Advisers Green Manifesto: Americans Will Be Better Off When They Work, Produce and Earn Less - HUMAN EVENTS
