Prosperity for Rhode Island

My name is Greg Gerritt.  I am the founder of a small think tank, Prosperity for RI, which focuses on the ecology economy interface, and the difference between prosperity and growth.  Its tag line is: You can not end poverty without healing ecosystems, you can not heal ecosystems without ending poverty.

As a public policy think tank our approach  is that the role of government is to give voice to those who can not afford to buy a voice, the poor and the planet.  Anyone who can pay a lobbyist to get the government to do things that make them richer, give them a larger piece of the pie, does not need the help of the government. The job of representatives is to listen to all, but give voice and vote to the needs of the voiceless.

In looking for how to achieve a greater prosperity for Rhode Island there are several key  things I think you should focus on. I can only give the bullet point version in my three minutes, but would be happy at any time to discuss this further with any of you.

1. Health care.  As long as we try to use health care as a tool of economic development health care will become less affordable.  More of our money will be tied up in producing profits in health care, fewer people will get health care.
2. Housing.  A big problem for RI has been the unaffordability of housing for young people seeking to come here to work.  But we continually hear people cheerleading for higher housing prices.  Housing prices need to come down significantly in order for housing to be affordable for people making RI wages.  It appears the powers that be want housing prices to go up so as to prop up the financial industries, but in doing so it tears down the productive part of the economy.
   

3.  You can not have infinite growth on a finite planet.   As peak oil and climate change become more and more                        apparent each year the smart approach is  to equitably and intelligently shrink the economy so that it fits what                   the earth can actually handle.

4. The only real growth available to RI that will help us prepare for peak oil, climate change, and the shrinking of               the  global economy is local oriented agriculture, a field in which the number of people employed has grown 42%             in  the last   7 years.  Further development of our agricultural potential will require us to produce much more                     compost, which we can do by stopping the landfilling of our food waste.  Compost is likely to be the most useful               field  RI can invest  in if it wants to take care of its people in the coming years.

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