Posted on November 25, 2008

Many of you were probably dancing in the streets on election night. I was – even though I identify myself as an independent. That the country will finally enjoy a leader who actually cares about ideas, who speaks grammatical English, who believes in science more than ideology, who doesn't see ecological or women's rights as liberal conspiracies, who exudes discipline, confidence, and charisma, who sincerely cares about the have-nots in society, and who won’t always resort to war as the answer to every national security problem is a huge relief.

But beware. Or, more precisely, be wary. Two weeks before the election, a Sunday talk show featured a debate between representatives of each campaign: Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) representing Barack Obama versus Senator John Kyl (R-Arizona) representing John McCain. When the debate turned to which candidate would improve the nation's economic competitiveness, the two senators agreed that the goal was to attract more global corporations and spent the rest of their time quibbling over the best means of doing so. The role of small business was relegated to Joe the Plumber.

Obama's Big Thinking
President-elect Obama has surrounded himself with the visionary captains of global capitalism – those who believe that "kinder, gentler" free trade and free finance, qualified with corporate responsibility, will save our fast-sinking economy. Obama's chief economic advisor during the campaign, Jason Furman, is best known for a paper arguing that Wal-Mart, because it provides cheap goods for all, is one of the most progressive corporations in America. Robert Reich made his career in a series of arguments in early issues of The American Prospect suggesting (against Laura Tyson, another Obama advisor) that ownership of business generally – let alone local ownership – no longer mattered. And as John McCain fairly observed, candidate Obama has surrounded himself with experts who made awful calls over the past decade about relaxing standards for low-income housing loans and deregulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, all of which contributed to the current financial mess.

What's most worrisome is that no one on the Obama A-Team understands that the key to revitalizing the economy and to fixing the financial crisis is nurturing and expanding locally owned business. But at the B- and C-Team levels there is enormous sympathy for the views of us locavores. So what should they be doing? — read more 

Posted on November 11, 2008

As the global financial system destroys decades' worth of Americans' savings, the relative calm and stability surrounding community-based financial institutions is striking. Locally owned banks and credit unions, which rarely got involved with predatory loans or resold their loans on global markets, are faring remarkably well. — read more 

Posted on September 30, 2008

Congress thinks it's about to "solve" the nation's deepening financial crisis with a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. What's being overlooked is that one of the fundamental causes is the erosion of place-based investing. And a fundamental solution has to be an expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). — read more 

Posted on September 18, 2008

The presidential season usually brings silly proposals, but a particularly atrocious idea this year is to revive nuclear power. John McCain deserves an "F" for wanting to build 45 new nuclear plants, and Barack Obama no better than a "C" for failing to criticize McCain's position with any coherence. — read more 

By Guest Commentator Patty Cantrell
Posted on July 18, 2008

It is 1974 in Springfield, Missouri, and they are still showing movies downtown at a theater on the city's Park Central Square. I am 10 years old, and my sister and I are thrilled to be out on that sweltering summer night with our very cool Aunt Robin and Uncle Romie. We're off to see Herbie the Love Bug Rides Again. The smash Disney hit is about a lovable, racing-striped Volkswagen Beetle who saves a little old lady and her historic home from the wrecking ball of "progress." — read more 

By Guest Commentator Amy Kedron
Posted on June 27, 2008

To be sure, many urban neighborhoods are in dire need of development resources. But there is a difference between "economic development" and "community economic development." The former is often driven by private interests, primarily for private gain; the latter is community-driven and aims to empower communities. — read more 

Posted on May 28, 2008

I was tempted to fire off a letter to the editors at Fast Company, suggesting a better fact checker before they publish commentaries like Elizabeth Spiers' "Not So Fast: Neighborhoodlums" (June 2008, p. 128), the latest mass-media sneer at local-first campaigns. But it finally dawned on me that the piece actually contains no facts whatsoever. — read more 

Posted on May 7, 2008

Will organized labor finally make its peace with local business? Having just addressed the annual convention of the British Columbia-branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – the largest union in the country – I'm pleased to report that the answer is increasingly "yes," if we’re willing to learn from our wise neighbors to the north. — read more 

Posted on April 24, 2008

Rich Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center at Iowa State University and one of the pioneers of the concept of "food miles," is the first to concede that it's smarter to assess the environmental impact of a food item over its entire lifetime. That means looking not only at transportation impacts but also those of production and distribution. — read more 

Posted on April 11, 2008

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest big box store, has recently been knocked down by a one-two punch of deepening recession and declining sales growth. According to Al Norman, the founder of Sprawl-Busters, Wal-Mart has abandoned 45 superstore projects over the last 10 months, and citizen groups have killed another 19. This loss – 64 stores in all – is unprecedented, and suggests that the retailing giant may have hit a wall in the United States. — read more