America Beyond Capitalism - Gar Alperovitz - Part 4

America Beyond Capitalism -
Gar Alperovitz

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 122

  May 2, 2017 

Book 35 - America Beyond Capitalism -
Reclaiming our Wealth, our Liberty and our Democracy

Gar Alperovitz (2005)
 Part 4 - pages 123-166
Reading Time - 1 hour

One of the questions that has been asked is - Is local democracy even possible in the global era? The truth is... 60% of US economic activity is local and most of it is service-oriented. There is less and less manufacturing in the US... and more and more services. The trick is to keep local money circulating locally - to build up the local economy. Buy Local is a slogan that we hear more and more nowadays. Community is of key importance in a democracy and it makes me wonder how we can build up our local community more. One way... shop less at Superstore and shop more at local grocery stores and farmer's markets!

The author touches on the whole environmental issue. At the national level... we aren't really making progress with environmental problems. We have maybe slowed things a bit... but we are not reversing trends. People are afraid to challenge pollution because they might lose their jobs provided by some large corporation. Local firms are more enmeshed in the local community and less likely to pull up stakes and leave. One major problem though, is that over 1 million acres of prime farmland are lost in the US each year to urban sprawl. People keep heading further out looking for cheaper houses, but then have to drive farther to get to work in the city centre. We need economic strategies to conserve neighbourhoods... we need to alter the design of our cities. Home, work and school need to be brought closer together. Smaller cities are generally better than bigger cities... but why do so many people flock to the larger urban centres?


The author then touches in more detail on the regional restructuring and decentralization of the United States. The thing is... while the US is ginormous... today there are 5 workers for every retiree. By the year 2030... it will be 2 workers for every retiree. That's not sustainable. Either there will need to be more workers through population growth or more workers through immigration. A place like California is already as big (or bigger) in terms of economy, size and population as some of the bigger EU countries. The idea would be to get smaller states to group together... It makes sense in a way. I could see Washington and Oregon grouping together. And the New England States are a logical grouping.



Today marks 1/3 of the way through my 2017 Book Challenge. At this rate, I should be able to finish 100 books by the end of the year. I hope.