A Wild Idea
In The Nation there are two articles that lend themselves to this same solution. 'Taking the Offensive on Wealth' which encourages state legislatures to reverse the Bush tax cuts and appropriately tax the very rich. Some states have decided not to repeal estate taxes. New Jersey will be taxing earnings of more than $500,000 to offset regressive property taxes. The consume less princlple is less obvious here but our government certainly needs to be more frugal. Perhaps we can impact on the wealthy industrialists who command salaries in the hundreds of millions and pay minimal taxes. We can target their companies to drastically reduce our consumption of their products particularly.
In another article in The Nation Your Money or Your Life the author, Dan Frosch discusses the cost of not having health insurance. A family can be bankrupted by a serous illness. We should have universal health insurance. However, in the meantime we need to save (if possible) for such an eventuality. Again, consume less.
In general consuming less has many positive ramifications. 1. We can begin to save money 2. We do not deplete the world's resources so rapidly 3. If we eat (consume) less we will be healthier 4. We will simplify our lives. Do we really need another pair of shoes?
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.