Economic Justice

News Sources about Corporate Power
Non-profits Organized for Change
Campaigns for Change
Think Tanks on Economic Justice
Consumers for Change -- Socially Responsible Investing
 
News Sources about Corporate Power
Multinational Monitor
Corp Watch 

Non-Profits Organized for  Change
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
For thirty years the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has been a leader of the corporate social responsibility movement. ICCR's membership is an association of 275 faith-based institutional investors, including national denominations, religious communities,   pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing companies.  ICCR and its members press companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year    ICCR-member religious institutional investors sponsor over 100 shareholder resolutions on major social and  environmental issues. The combined portfolio value of ICCR's member organizations is estimated to be $110 billion.

Adbusters
Affluenza is the idea that consumers over-purchase even though doing so harms them financially and emotionally.      Affluenza is encouraged by advertisers who make consumers feel that spending is their moral and spiritual obligation.  Learn about an interesting group that's trying to re-educate consumers.

Citizens for Tax Justice
This is a non-partisan group that examines how the tax structure affects most people in the United States.

United for a Fair Economy
This group, again non-partisan,  looks at how government policy affects corporations as opposed to the average citizen

Global Trade Watch
"Promotes democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor “free trade."

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Campaigns for Change
Living Wage
Corporations argue that raising the minimum wage will increase inflation.  True, only if  economic policy is drafted from the perspectiveof major corporations.  It's possible to increase the minimum wage without inflation...if only corporations would agree to make less profit.  Learn more about the push to provide all workers in the U.S. with a decent standard of living.

RugMark
RUGMARK is a global nonprofit organization working to end child labor and offer educational opportunities for children in India, Nepal and Pakistan.   The RUGMARK label is your best assurance that no illegal child labor was employed in the manufacture of a carpet or rug.

United Students Against Sweatshops
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is an international coalition devoted to stopping sweatshop labor. You can learn about USAS on this website as well as read our Statement of Principles.

Anti-Slavery International
Did you know that people are still bought and sold like chattel?  Many of us thought slavery was extinct,  yet approximately 240 million people world-wide are still enslaved.  Anti-slavery international tries to create policy and information that stops this violence.

Students Transforming and Resisting Corporations   --  These activists are trying to influence their own universities to be more conscious about where they invest.  More ambitiously,  they're trying to influence global trade policy.

Redefining Progress 
Redining Progress "measures the real state of our economy, our environment, and social justice with tools like the Genuine Progress Indicator and the Ecological Footprint."

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"Think Tanks" on Economic Justice
Economic Policy Institute
"The Economic Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that seeks
to broaden the public debate about strategies to achieve a prosperous and fair
economy."

Institute for Economic Democracy
Eliminating poverty is not philosophically complicated; Eliminate the monopolization of land, technology, and financecapital and equalize pay for equally productive work, both within internal economies and between trading nations. Once all nations and all people have access to technology and their labor is paid equally for equally productive work, the buying power of labor in different nations, and within nations, will equalize. Eliminating those monopolies will instantly distribute a share of the wealth to all members of society even as economic efficiency increases and produces more wealth. This is a more cooperative and democratic capitalism that will assure all rights for all people.

Aspen Institute
"The Aspen Institute is a global forum for leveraging the power of leaders to improve the human condition. Through its seminar and policy programs, the Institute fosters enlightened, morally responsible leadership and convenes leaders and policy makers to address the foremost challenges of the new century."
 
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Consumers for Change -- Socially Responsible Consuming
Clothes and Other Goods   
Is it possible to consume without perpetuating oppression?  That's a good question.  And I don't have an answer for you.  However, there are some groups that believe they have the answer.  They are trying to promote companies that provide a living wage for their workers and a clean environment for its citizens.  Check them out.

Global Exchange
This site has information on eco-traveling, buying coffee at a fair price and information on lots of other ways to buy products at a fair price.

Coop America
If you're not sure what the labor record is of your favorite company, check it out on Co-op America.  This group has a database that provides news printed about myriad companies of interest to many consumers.  The group also has a shopping guide that recommends companies.

Socially Responsible Investing
Those of you with money to burn may wonder how to invest it.  There are quite a few investment companies geared specifically towards helping the social-minded use their money in progressive ways.   Community banking is the best way to help others.  But if want to be more aggressive in your growth, try the various mutual funds.

Greenercars.com or epa.gov/greenvehicles
There are lots of automotive alternatives out there today and the technology keeps changing as conventional car companies adopt the fuel effecient/low emissions alternatives that have existed for decades. These web-sites can tell you what kinds of cars, in your price range, fits your's and the environment's needs.

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