An economy that is dependent on people buying things they don’t need, ever new gewgaws and gadgets, with money they don’t have, is not worth saving. An economy that has to grow just to cover its own debts is not worth saving. An economy dependent on the energy of fossil fuels to avoid collapse is not worth saving. Why is an economy where most of the profits go to one percent of the population worth saving?
Our current economic system, which might be called global corporatism, is based on growth fueled by IOUs. The IOUs are not only to banks, but to future decades; not merely financial debts, which could be cured by hyperinflation or default, but real debts — that is, debts to the land and the air and the water — that we can’t just buy our way out of. Skimping on maintenance is an IOU. Burning carbon is an IOU — a big one. Squeezing the middle classes into working more for less is an IOU. Increasing poverty and poor health is an IOU that society will have to pay — now and also later.
This article is USAcentric, but many of its lessons are true for Australia too.
