Silent Spring

"There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings."

So began one of the most influential books in the history of our nation.

When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, few Americans were aware of what has since become known as the environmental crisis. For the first time Americans were informed that economic activity can have consequences which are not foreseen in economic calculations.

A few years earlier, John Kenneth Galbraith had raised the alarm in a slightly different way in his book, Affluent Society.

"The shortcomings of economics are not original error, but uncorrected obsolescence."

Galbraith decried the lack of value put on "public goods" for which there may not be effective markets at a point in time, but which are essential to society's meaningful survival.

Charles Reich took up the mantle a decade later with The Greening of America.

"There is a revolution coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual..."

These words are eerily apt today. A revolution began anew on January 20, 2009 and its echoes will be felt for generations.

In his last campaign, Bobby Kennedy said, "Too much and too long we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things...Our Gross National Product...counts air pollution,...the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder..."

"Yet the Gross Natoinal Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play......the beauty of our poetry...neither our wit nor our courage..."

The common thread in all this musing is that traditional economic thinking accounts for only a part of the nation's quality of life. Yet our economic and financial models still ignore anything considered unmeasureable.

Are we ready for a real economic transformation?

Are we ready for a sustainable economy?

Are we ready for govenment spending, bailouts, stilmuli, and regulatory activity which increases the long term welfare of our citizens?

Are we ready to use the best minds and technologies to solve our problems?

Can we do it?

Yes we can.

Lee