Economists finally catching up with Peace Author

One of the bigger stories to blow up the holiday news bubble this week was the fact that consumers are spending less this year than retailers hoped they would. Along with that bit of dismal economia comes the Associated Press survey of economists who finally admit that the expanding income gap resulting from the malicious (my word) policies of the conservative power bloc hurts the economy and is slowing the long hoped-for recovery.

Well, duh.

I’ve been saying and writing about that very condition for years. More than two years ago, on August 2, 2011, I covered this issue in my article in this blog entitled "Rewarding the Rich at the Expense of the Poor and Middle Class: Bad economics, bad citizenship."

Even better, that fact is the gist of my essay on "The Price of Poverty" in Chapter 12, "Poverty and Politics," of my essay collection, The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace. In fact, all the essays in that chapter touch on the problems caused by the perpetuation of unemployment and generational poverty. In addition, The World I Imagine is a virtual trove of creative solutions to the problem of poverty in our society.

It’s interesting to note that in early spring of 2004, I wrote the first essay in my Imagine series as a newspaper column detailing the natural cause-and-effect relationship between poverty and conflict. I eventually published those collected essays as The World I Imagine in 2008. Since I was so far ahead of the curve in recognizing the dangers of conservative policies that have slowly but steadily ravaged the world economy for most of the last three decades, readers are certain to find inspiration for their own creative solutions by reading about the many positive things we all need to do to rebuild the economy that are discussed in this book.

Throughout The World I Imagine, I explain innovative ways we can develop and implement education and job training programs for everyone to the extent of their abilities and interests and match them to various jobs that are needed to run a successful economic system. More than that, everyone must understand that the powers-that-be must ensure that all basic goods and services necessary for a dignified existence are available to everyone at a cost of no more than half the amount the lowest-paid full-time worker is able to earn. That economic policy would ensure that no one is forced to subsist in a state of poverty and everyone will have at least a little more than just the basics and, thus, some measure of choice in their lives.

If such a system were ever implemented, if everyone earned enough money to do at least a little better than merely survive, businesses would thrive. If everyone was able to benefit at least to a small degree from a growing and successful economy, everyone would contribute their efforts to a steadily growing economy and no one would be considered an unnecessary drain on ever-dwindling resources of a bankrupt country. If everyone were able to enjoy at least a small part of the resulting prosperity, then poverty would disappear entirely.

While economists, corporate executives, and politicians continue to focus on the negative policies and keep on repeating the same old mistakes that got us into this mess, I’ll continue to concentrate on positive win-win-win ideas that could eventually pull all of us out of this mess. That is my dream for the future in The World I Imagine.

The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured on most online bookstores throughout the world, including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and both are available for Kindle readers.