By Hazel Henderson - Ethical Markets Media – September, 2012
The recession imposed by the financial debacle of 2007-2009 still plagues the world. The deeper reason lies in the murky secrets of money-creation and how financial sleight-of-hand enabled financial players to control politicians - even in democracies. Averting further social, financial and environmental crises and the miseries they cause to millions of citizens, taxpayers and small enterprises on Main Street, now urgently requires unmasking the mysteries of money.
By Emily Benson - Green Economy Coalition – February, 2012
On Monday, Moody’s credit rating agency announced that the British economy has a ‘negative outlook’. These two small words have sent shivers through the Treasury and the city. Downgrading the creditworthiness of a national economy can have such catastrophic impacts on investment flows that governments have come to fear the verdicts of the large credit rating agencies.
By Hazel Henderson - Ethical Markets Media – July, 2011
GDP tracks national output using money flows, which its inventor Simon Kuznets warned was never intended to measure overall progress. GDP reporting in mass media became a "fetish". GDP focuses economic competition between nations, justifying interest rates on their sovereign bonds. GDP obsesses politicians seeking election and all business leaders. Media amplify GDP in their global echo chambers. Investors and security analysts follow GDP in benchmarking performance of securities and central bankers.
The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact that was introduced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in 2006. The index is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries’ development, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI), which do not take sustainability into account.
