A Progressive Perspective on Local Economy

Today, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is creating a host of social, health, and economic problems. Extremely wealthy individuals and large multi-national corporations have acquired sufficient economic power to suppress competition and control markets to benefit their own interests.

In order to reverse this trend, the Progressive Party supports the policy of economic decentralization so that local people gain control over their economic destinies and wealth is distributed more equitably. These prosperous, self-sufficient local economies form the foundation of Prout’s socio-economic system.
Decentralizing the economy implies:

1. local control of economic planning,
2. production mainly for local consumption,
3. production and distribution managed by local cooperatives that are embedded in the community,
4. targeted hiring of local residents to achieve 100% employment, and
5. the gradual elimination of all non-local products and services.

Through extensive and intensive decentralization, localities will become more self-sufficient and build wealth for their residents. The implementation of decentralization will vary according to economic efficiencies – for example, while most of the production of food could be handled locally, a regional production facility would be more practical for, say, the manufacture of cars and other large-scale industries.