The current economic system has never come under this much scrutiny before. The good news is that there are various ways we can transform the economy, whether from an individual perspective or a collective one.
In my last piece, I addressed slightly more philosophical aspects connected to how we deal with money. After receiving several requests, in this piece I will lay out some practical initiatives that we can start to adopt in order to transform things moving forward.
Waiting for a savior to appear does not seem to me to be the wisest of choices, so let’s explore some things that can be done at home, in the individual sphere.
- Giving versus receiving – One of the most important actions is to start slowing down the gears that make us take away from others to get our share. Let us start by taking a good hard look at ourselves: what are our lives’ callings? I am inviting you to reflect on how each of us can contribute something to the world in some unique way.
- Expanding perception beyond money – When we expand our perception to go beyond money, we acquire a greater sense of abundance, whether it’s our health, the sound of music, going to the beach, eating something sweet, watching the sunset, our talents, our communities, our families… We are taught to reduce ourselves merely to that which can be counted. Consider this an invitation to expand our perception of the things we have.
- Social acknowledgement – If you are reading this op-ed piece: congratulations! You are not one of the nearly 12 million illiterate who live in Brazil. Acknowledging the system that we live in and the class that we are born ino leads to social awareness, thus amplifying our sense of gratitude and respect.
- Location and community – Prioritizing local businesses does not mean putting an end to globalization, but rather bringing security, integration and esteem to our communities.
- Spending money is political – I often point out that how we spend our money is a political act. Who are we fomenting with our money? What are we trying to achieve with our investments?
In the sphere of macroeconomics (*), I selected a handful of reforms among various incredible ideas that I have been studying with the objective of fostering a view that is at once constructive, social and environmental. Among them are:
- Going beyond GDP as an economic indicator – inclusion of indexes such as suicide, disease, social inequality, social well-being, respect of ecological cycles, among others.
- Universal Basic Income – This will enable thousands of people to focus on their talents as opposed to constantly having to worry about when their next meal will be.
- Tax reform – Taxation of unproductive capital and unproductive land; income tax reform and the taxation of extreme wealth, channeling funds to the sectors that enhance social well-being – after all, if you have gotten more, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I have gained less.
- Binding money to common goods – unbound money means channeling energy without a particular goal in mind. The idea here is to bind money to the environment. That way, instead of destroying the environment, those who do more to protect it earn more.
There is definitely a pro-active agenda here and tons of incredible ideas. But how do we implement them? Firstly, by recognizing how far we are from a balanced economic model and by making changes on a more local level. Deep down, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. Many of the points made above have been discussed for years, however, the more I delve into these matters, the more I realize that our biggest problem has far more to do with our values than economics.
(*) For those who are interested in reading up on New Economics, I recommend the books “The Clean Money Revolution”, “Sacred Economics” and “Dinheiro e consciência” (Money and Conscience).
Originally Published at https://spdiario.com.br/fernando-maskobi-como-transformar-a-economia/