Cupcake Banking in the Public Interest

I just had a great conversation with Wade Rathke at WABF in New Orleans, who asked me about the “cupcake” economy I talk about in Screwnomics, and ways to make lasting change. Everyone should get some frosting, borne up by a cake mix of commerce, home, and community—not separate layers, but working together.

Drawing on Hazel Henderson, Ellen Brown, and Gwendolyn Hallsmith, I talked about ethical investing, local investing and the local economy, including local currencies—and also about public banking. Right away Wade knew the history of North Dakota and its Nonpartisan League, which worked to promote women’s right to vote, and against east coast bank and corporate exploitation. http://history.nd.gov/ndhistory/npl.html

Wade has long been a champion of us people who get the short end of the stick in this economy. But why does disempowering women and screwing the majority so often go hand in hand? That’s what Screwnomics decodes and makes clear. Wade and I agreed that we need an Economic #MeToo movement!

The amazing thing for me is that many of the ND state leaders who brought about progressive change in the early 1900s were Republicans, who in those days, I’ll remind you, were also pro-birth control and helped fund Planned Parenthood. Things have changed, except for this: the impetus to disempower women goes hand-in-hand with screwing the majority.

One of the longest-lasting measures of the Nonpartisan League was establishment of the Bank of North Dakota, capitalized by state revenue, its tax money—with a mission to promote the state’s economy, instead of the richest stockholders of the biggest eastern banks. They didn’t send all their revenue to Wall Street to be gambled. BND even did well in 2008 when big private banks had to be bailed out at taxpayer cost.

Now there’s a movement to replicate BND’s fiscal success for the people (low, low student loan rates, more readily available loans for small business and farmers) in other states. Even cities want to bank in the local public interest. Why put all our eggs in one Wall Street basket?? Isn’t it wiser to diversify?  http://www.insidesources.com/is-the-bank-of-north-dakota-a-solution-to-municipal-financing-after-divestment/

Curious? You can find Ellen Brown’s interview with me on Public Banking Institute’s “It’s Our Money” here: http://itsourmoney.podbean.com/. Wade’s World on WBKF can be found on the link below, and my interview will be posted there in the company of so many remarkable women and men, who know we need change: http://www.kabf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Wades%20World%20%20050418.

Riane Eisler and Nancy Folbre, Two Long-Haulers for Change

Riane Eisler's ground-breaking big-picture history, The Chalice and The Blade (1987), has influenced a whole generation of women. Fewer women have read her book, The Real Wealth of Nations (2007), the title a play on words that Adam Smith made famous in his 1776 economic tome, The Wealth of Nations. I used her economic book as part of seminar I taught at Vermont College, and just last summer was invited to present  with her at a Vermont "Womanomics" conference--and then she endorsed my book, Screwnomics!

I come from a long line of women accountants—and in my book I talk about the need to adjust our national accounting system.  Right now the GDP measures only one item: dollars. It is only an "income" statement, adding up every dollar exchanging hands. By GDP's reckoning, natural disasters are a windfall, costing Americans in insurance payouts, reconstruction, legal settlements and fines, and environmental cleanup, driving up the GDP! 

Is that a good thing? No, we need a balance sheet, that shows us more accurately our real costs and real benefits. In Screwnomics I mention GPI (Genuine Progress Indicators) now adopted by two states, Maryland and Vermont, though only Maryland updates figures annually. http://dnr.maryland.gov/mdgpi/Pages/default.aspx

I also talk about the GNH, or Gross National Happiness measurements, more serious than they sound, first adopted by Bhutan, and promoted here in the US by a movement begun by my Vermont friends Ginny Sassaman and Paula Francis. http://gnhusa.org/

We also should consider Riane Eisler's important new measurements, created in collaboration with Eisler's Center for Partnership Studies, and economist Nancy Folbre, who has long written about the unpaid work at the heart of any economy. https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/nancy-folbres-feminist-unorthodox-economics. Their Social Wealth Economic Indicators (SWEI, pronounced "sway") actually seek to show how respecting and strengthening our rich, social connections at home and in our communities actually RESULTS in better economic-dollar outcomes. Then even our rather stupid GDP would be able to see it. http://caringeconomy.org/newindicators/

Eisler and Folbre actually presented together in 2013 at a conference sponsored by Champlain College and UVM's Gund Institute. You can watch it here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNuSdGLBMA

Such measurements of what now remains invisible—our persistent love and attention to what really matters—should be part of women's Economic#MeToo movement! Let's SWEI with national happiness! —Rickey Gard Diamond

The Eros of Money

I've been doing a lot of great radio interviews and podcasts, but not often with that rare bird, a female economist. Crystal Arnold and I had a conversation that went a little deeper than many of my short interviews allow--into the heart of my book. We talked about what I call EroNomics, the stuff you cannot buy or sell, but can only give away and share.  Eros is the renewable fuel of any economy. It motivates, and gives us purpose. It calls on us to open to our dreams and be better than we ever knew we could be. 

Poet Audre Lorde influenced my thinking about the practicality (and even necessity) for claiming your deepest desires. She wrote an important essay "The Uses of the Erotic." Another influence was psychologist Rollo May, who wrote Love and Will. May warned Americans of a predictable demise when we deny Eros, or what psychologists call the sum total of all our instincts for self-preservation and survival. We need those instincts more than ever today.... I was delighted to discover Arnold's show, Money-Wise Woman....Here's the link! 

Gross National Happiness: Ginny and Paula's Long Haul Pursuit!

I've been writing about Gross National Happiness for years. It's exciting to see women and men working together to challenge old measures of money-only, the GDP, to evaluate how our economy is REALLY doing. Especially inspiring to me are the women who remain so committed to the long haul.

Ginny Sassaman's kitchen in Maple Corners Vermont was the site of early organizing of GNH-USA, and Linda Wheatley became its first president. In 2010 the new organization organized the first American conference, which was attended by officials from Bhutan, where GNH originated. I served on its board a short while. But Linda, Ginny, and Paula Francis, another early GNH leader, went the second mile, and then some. They committed to a Happiness Walk across the US. They are spreading the word and engaging people in conversations about their pursuits of happiness—and have walked 5000 miles to do it!  

Here's a link to their recent interview about GNH and why it matters, with Thomas Rosenberg, host of "Envision" on https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/106465/encore-beyond-gdp-new-metrics-for-a-more-inclusive-future

What if the nation weren't so divided in its values as we are told daily by our media? What if our community and family connections were counted in our economy? This interview introduces other accounting methods, like the Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI) and (GNH) and....

Interested? Check out Screwnomics' Chapter 13, a history of EconoMan's accounts and new, sexier accounting that just might save the world. Also see the GNH website here:  http://gnhusa.org/

Next week, I'll post a video from another important woman leader, Riane Eisler, looking at measures of caring—and their economic results. This stuff matters! 

—Rickey Gard Diamond

The Lions and Lambs of March

March began by roaring in like a righteous she-lion with #MeToo at the Oscars, and Oprah's speech about the loud collapse of dozens of male bullies. These included two at the White House who resigned when a photo of an ex-wife with a black eye punctured their collective male denial of their crimes against women. Yet March showed no sign of leaving like a lamb.

All month we endured more stories of women’s bodies claimed as sexual property, bought and paid for—sued and countersued over then-candidate Trump’s affairs.  Pay-off money and unkept business deals to silence women before the election is part of that news-roar. A Playboy bunny and a porn star, young enough to be Trump’s daughter, both alleged that before sex he admired them for being as smart and beautiful as his daughter—ee-yew! http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/stormy-trump-compared-daughter-sex-article-1.3895543

NBC’s Heidi Przbyla and other women journalists have lately brought to the forefront a lamb that hasn’t gotten as much attention. Quieter, it bleats another tale of young female bodies treated as property. In mid-February, Planned Parenthood joined with eight local government, healthcare, and advocacy groups to sue Trump’s HHS (Health & Human Services). The Washington Post reported $220 million in sudden cuts to a reauthorized national Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, despite evidence it was working. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/15/planned-parenthood-sues-trump-administration-for-ending-grants-to-teen-pregnancy-programs/?utm_term=.0ed6cb57010b

Reporter Przbyla found the program, begun in 2010, had bipartisan support in Congress and had trained more than 7,000 health professionals and supported 3,000 community-based organizations. The result, reported most recently in 2017, was record lows in US teen pregnancy and birth rates.  http://time.com/4843652/teen-birth-rates-record-low/

Damningly, and in keeping with Trump cuts in other programs benefiting women and children, she reported that experienced female administrators at HHS had been kept out of the decision-making loop and were told to “get in line.” Cuts came down by command from Steven Valentine, an anti-abortion abstinence activist put in charge of HHS family planning.  One administrator said she was “so rattled” that “my reaction when I got on the phone was to cry.”

But now picture her singing along with that old song of Helen Reddy’s: I am woman, hear me roar! Because a week after Przbyla’s story came out, HHS withdrew some of its cuts. And I suspect women aren’t done yet with evidence-based programs that work to prevent teenaged pregnancies. We're just done with protection of outdated male claims on women’s bodies and decisions. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/hhs-agrees-protect-some-funds-teen-pregnancy-prevention-program-n860581

Red and Blue Both Fly in America's Flag

E Pluribus Unum

Out of many, one. That motto was first put on an American coin in 1795, and by the late 19th century was standard.

Maybe we citizens have seen it so often by now, we've stopped thinking about its importance. Our divisions grow more polarized, with name-calling and rejection becoming more common than listening, respecting, reasoning and compromising. Pew Research has been looking at our political polarization, our many shades of red, blue, purple, fuschia, etc., at their research site, and even has a "quiz" to take if you're curious where you are on the spectrum. http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typology/

Now an organization calls on our higher selves. Calling on our Better Angels, this organization is actually holding workshops to help "the reds" and "the blues" sit down together and talk. Only this isn't just a photo op. They get results. They teach skills and help each side reach clear positions, teach how to fact check and agree on what is real and what is "fake." 

Their idea is that it's important to understand one another's position, be able to talk about facts and differences, and discover what you and "they" have  in common so you can reach a compromise and move forward. No one says this is easy. But this is how politics works, when it does—and lately it mostly doesn't. Better Angels is working to help E Pluribus, our very diverse America, to unite again.

Our shared money is at stake in every budget decision. What we decide together affects the economy. For appealing to our higher American selves, and our tradition of unity, statecraft and compromise, we applaud and recommend them. You can check out what they're doing, and talking about here:  https://www.better-angels.org/bam