JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH

CONVERSATIONS WITH HISTORY 18 
Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes environmentalist James Gustave Speth for a discussion of his new book, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy. Speth discusses the systemic failure at the heart of the American crisis highlighting the inadequacy of a motivational system that focuses on economic growth, profits, and power to the detriment of people and the environment. In his view, the American system is broken.

He criticizes progressives for not focusing on the big picture and thereby not recognizing the way issues like poverty, education, and environment are linked to the failure of political economy to deliver a quality of life that takes account of human need and values such as equity and justice. Describing a plan of action that combines reform and transformation and emphasizing the lessons to be learned from the civil rights movement, Speth argues for building a political movement that focuses on all the elements of the American crisis.