Day 2 of New Economy Week: Expanding How We Think About What’s Possible

This article was produced in partnership with the New Economy Coalition as part of the 2014 New Economy Week. Each day this week, YES! will publish articles responding to different topic prompts.

Prompt 2: Expanding how we think about what’s possible.

In the late 1970s, U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher often repeated the phrase “There is no alternative”—meaning that deregulated capitalism was the only possible way of doing things. It’s an idea that still carries a lot of weight today, stifling the popular imagination. The good news is that it’s just not true: there are many alternatives. Local groups and social movements have been building alternatives to capitalism for centuries. How can we change the mainstream narrative about what’s possible?

Our feature articles provide some insight:

• My Cousin Was Shot Dead By a Police Officer. Here’s What It Means for the New Economy Movement.
  Many opportunities exist for collaboration between the movements for racial justice and for an economy that works for everyone.
• Economists Who Say the Planet Has Infinite Resources Are Today’s Flat Earth Society
  The attempt to solve our ecological and social crises through economic growth is a fool’s task, because both crises have a common cause: an infinite-planet, perpetual-growth economy has met the limits of a finite planet.

For more perspectives, visit the New Economy Coalition.

Want more? Here’s a sampling of articles we’ve published at YES! related to this topic:

• Manifesto for a Post-Growth Economy
  What single change stands to give Americans more free time, healthier ecosystems, and more meaningful jobs?
• A Wealthy Capitalist on Why Money Doesn’t Trickle Down
  Nick Hanauer, venture capitalist and self-described “plutocrat,” says a healthy economy and an effective democracy depend on a thriving middle class of workers.