Target Corporation forced me to make a decision. Unfortunately, they decided to fund (thanks to the Citizens United case) a Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota with policies that would continue the disastrous direction our current Republican governor has been destructively pursuing for years now. So, now I have to cut up my Target credit card, and change my shopping habits. This is made additionally difficult since I had years ago sworn off Walmart, and now I have to add Target to the list of places at which not to shop. Of course, I realized that Target wasn't probably a friend to our democracy prior to this, but this was the proverbial straw. I also had to look into a responsible credit card. It wasn't easy. But, I found the following article from GreenAmericaToday.org which helped me quite a bit. Contact Target, and let them know what you think (and let them know if you're taking your business elsewhere).

Responsible Credit Cards: Myth or Reality?

Discover responsible credit card options and alternatives to the mega-banks.

One question we get often from Real Green readers is: Which credit card is the most socially Credit Card responsible? ... Read more

[Editor's note: This is a conservative take on the problems of libertarianism. The author seems to possess the expected conservative points of view on many topics (e.g. socialism, pornography, security) and comes at the issue with a very different framing and a very different set of assumptions from a Beingist (or any progressive). What's interesting is how many commonalities shine through in spite of this.]

Free spirits, the ambitious, ex-socialists, drug users, and sexual eccentrics often find an attractive political philosophy in libertarianism, the idea that individual freedom should be the sole rule of ethics and government. Libertarianism offers its believers a clear conscience to do things society presently restrains, like make more money, have more sex, or take more drugs. It promises a consistent formula for ethics, a rigorous framework for policy analysis, a foundation in American history, and the application of capitalist efficiencies to the whole of society. But while it contains substantial grains of truth, as a whole it is a seductive mistake. ... Read more

By Martin Shankleman, Employment correspondent, BBC News

Hospital cleaners steaming beds in a hospital
Hospital cleaners play a vital role, the study found

Hospital cleaners are worth more to society than bankers, a study suggests.

The research, carried out by think tank the New Economics Foundation, says hospital cleaners create £10 of value for every £1 they are paid.

It claims bankers are a drain on the country because of the damage they caused to the global economy.

They reportedly destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn. Meanwhile, senior advertising executives are said to "create stress".

The study says they are responsible for campaigns which create dissatisfaction and misery, and encourage over-consumption.

Waste recycling worker standing by a pile of plastic bottles
Waste workers promote recycling, researchers note

And tax accountants damage the country by devising schemes to cut the amount of money available to the government, the research suggests.

By contrast, child minders and waste recyclers are also doing jobs that create net wealth to the country. ... Read more

The Equality Trust -- Given the enormous human suffering caused by the differences in living standards between rich and poor countries, it may seem beside the point to focus attention - as the Equality Trust does - on the inequalities within the rich countries.

But rather than seeing these as two quite separate problems, greater equality within the rich countries seems to lead them to adopt policies which are more helpful to poorer countries. Two pieces of evidence suggest that this is true. First, as the graph shows, the rich countries with the smallest income differences within them tend to spend a higher proportion of their Gross National Income on aid to developing countries. Second, more equal countries also perform better on the Global Peace Index which reflects militarism and violence.

Click Image to enlarge ... Read more

The Equality Trust -- We are at a turning point in human history. For centuries the best way of improving the quality of life has been to raise material living standards. But we have now come to the end of what economic growth can do for developed countries. Measures of well-being or of happiness no longer rise with economic growth. Even though health goes on improving in rich countries, that improvement is no longer related to economic growth. We also know that rates of depression and anxiety have risen over the last fifty years or so. ... Read more

The Equality Trust -- The well-being and behaviour of young people get a lot of attention in the media, with a constant stream of reports on youth violence, drunkenness, antisocial behaviour, obesity, self harm, and teenage sex. A recent Unicef report, which put together 40 indicators of child well-being in rich countries, concluded that while children in Britain fared less well than in any other country, those in the United States hardly did better.

The Unicef index measured six different aspects of child well-being. Material well-being included such things as living in a home with few books, or where no adult was employed. Health and safety included items like immunization rates and deaths from accidents. Educational well-being included scores on performance tests and the proportion of children going into further education. Peer and family relationships were measured by such things as whether or not children viewed their peers as kind, and the numbers of children living in single parent and step-parent families. Behaviours and risks included smoking and drinking, how many children had sex by age 15, etc. Subjective well-being included self-rated health and other measures of how children felt about themselves.

Click Image to enlarge ... Read more

New York Times -- When capitalism seemed on the verge of collapse last fall, Kristin Halvorsen, Norway’s Socialist finance minister and a longtime free market skeptic, did more than crow.

As investors the world over sold in a panic, she bucked the tide, authorizing Norway’s $300 billion sovereign wealth fund to ramp up its stock buying program by $60 billion — or about 23 percent of Norway ’s economic output.

“The timing was not that bad,” Ms. Halvorsen said, smiling with satisfaction over the broad worldwide market rally that began in early March.

The global financial crisis has brought low the economies of just about every country on earth. But not Norway.

With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare state.

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