In this video, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell testifies at a hearing held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, about how federal contracting and other forms of financial support for business should be overhauled to reflect American values and build the kind of economy we need.… Read More
This 90-second video shows how giant banks have devoured the banking sector over the past 20 years.… Read More
What will it take before we have a mass movement in the U.S. that’s offering economic alternatives? ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell appeared on the Laura Flanders Show to talk about this question.… Read More
Exciting changes are on the horizon for our century-old utility structure as solar power, energy storage, and electric vehicles open new avenues for utility customers to produce their own power and control their energy use. Utilities are scrambling to remain relevant in this technological firestorm, and energy wonks are envisioning a new business model––Utility 2.0––that keeps … Read More
At a Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association conference in November 2014, ILSR’s Director of Democratic Energy John Farrell tilted with Xcel Energy’s Rick Evans about the state’s dormant value of solar policy and whether it was likely to be adopted in the near future. Click the following links to see some of the biggest questions and … Read More
On January 14th, President Obama visited Cedar Falls, Iowa, to share his strategy to expand high-speed connectivity to more Americans, encourage competition, and galvanize economic development. Obama’s plan centers around community networks and he announced that the next step will be eliminating barriers in 19 states that usurp local authority to invest in publicly owned infrastructure. … Read More
When we started to hear rumors that the White House was investigating community owned networks, we were excited but not sure what to expect. I have to admit that seeing President Obama – the President of the United States – saying that Cedar Falls was smart to invest in themselves was much more powerful than I … Read More
What can we expect from the first-in-the-nation clean energy partnership between the City of Minneapolis and its electric and gas utilities? Check out this video conversation from a November 2014 MNSEIA conference in Minnesota with the utilities, the city, and the lead grassroots organization about the history, the agreement, and the hopes for this novel partnership. … Read More
In 1995, David Morris spoke at the Riverside Church about localism and globalism. In his 15-minute speech David maintains that globalization and gigantism and absentee ownership were not inevitable but the result of public policies. We make the rules, and the rules make us. And the rules we’ve made, especially over the last 50 years, have enabled and encouraged an economic and political system where those who make the rules are separated from those who feel the impact of those rules. … Read More
