The Last Days Of The Growth Story
- This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Dorothea Lange Rear window tenement dwelling, 133 Avenue D, NYC June 1936 I am thinking about the similarities between a financial crisis and for inst
[See the full post at: The Last Days Of The Growth Story]websites like this are very important. I do appreciate what you are doing. I think that this and other websites like this are the only places that real journalism is being conducted now. I beginning to think that the MSM has been taken over by the corporations, most of the journalist there are too afraid they will lose their social status to really report the big picture. They are mostly entertainers and propagandists now.
Hi Ilargi
I am so pleased you tackle this taboo subject. Growth is the alpha issue. There’s just no point in talking about anything political if you don’t address the end of growth.The level of denial and avoidance I meet when discussing the sustainbility of growth is staggering. Those people who do engage talk about endless resource substitution or growth of value without increased resource use. These people understand diminishing returns, they just can’t handle it, it makes society’s narrative a lie. Progress as currently defined not attainable.
Ilargi,
You have many questions, most of which deserve consideration.
And I think understanding (as much as possible) human nature would do much towards answers.
There was a fundamental change when the War God Yahweh came on the scene. It firmed a patriarchal hierarchy, possibly for the first time. Priests garnered tremendous power and began an increasingly hierarchical aspect to the order of society. Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade is an excellent read on this.
This set the course for the future and all of the offshoots of almost all the worlds religions began competition for dominance. That requires growth. Natural greed took it from there.
Not to over simplify, but capitalism and greed were a marriage made in heaven (spelled; H.E.L.L.), and here we are.
Having been an early adopter of Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang, and Earth First, my only concern has been sustainability. There is only one economic model that is rational; Sufficiency Economy (which means sufficiency living).Realistically and looking at the world today; I see no evidence we humans are anywhere near our intelligence tipping point of awakening to what’s actually going on…
The Ultimate Growth Story
– 10,000 years ago, humans and livestock occupied 0.01% of all animal biomass
– Humans and livestock now occupy 97% of all animal biomass.
– Human population set for 10 billion by 2060
– Extinction growth set for 75% of all animals gone by 2065
– Temperature growth set for 6°C by 2070
– China’s debt grew from $1 trillion in 2001 to $25 trillion today
– Livestock demand set to grow
– Water shortages set to grow
– Food shortages set to grow
– Violence set to grow
– More Americans believe in zombie apocalypse than global heating.
– Relax, it’s not the end of the world.Ilargi, methinks you are onto something with:
“The something else that is going on is that our brains have been kidnapped …”
evidenced by the absence of any economic education and the destruction of historical memory. Without these and a common language, the likelihood of resolving the complex of problems now presented is far less than a room full of monkeys on typewriters coming up with “Hamlet”. So much of your fearsome debt isn’t debt but a debit. Not knowing this, it becomes impossible to apply the appropriate credit to cancel out the balance. Even at global scale, economics is a closed system that accounting means are applicable to, that means all credits are directly related to debits. If the public hasn’t the dimmest idea about economics, how on earth are they to competently choose amongst the various schemes they are presented with. As for history, …
See the recent interview by Greg Hunter (ex-mainstream media) with Paul Craig Roberts. https://usawatchdog.com/ Roberts has not only been a vocal critic of how America has gotten fatally off-track, but was also Editor of the Washington Post, and in this interview outlines how even back in his day (no later than the 80’s) it was already assumed that U.S. reporters were CIA assets. In addition, his posture to Mr. hunter was, “You didn’t know?” So that puts Hunter and the population, what, 40 years behind the belief curve on this?
Dmitry Orlov had an insightful essay this week on what he calls the “senility of the ruling elite.” https://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-start-war-and-lose-empire.html
This parallels Ilargi on how, regardless of what happens, to the West, it’s as if it never happened. Regardless of how failed a policy or idea might be, it is never changed. Regardless of the facts established as consensus on, say, MH17 or Syrian gas, or bailout stimulus, there is no adjustment to reality. Perhaps they believe, as Karl Rove said, “We’re an empire now, and we create reality.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community
Or as King John famously said (the one from Robin Hood and the Magna Carta) “The Law is in my mouth.” Or put another way, they actually believe: “Whatever I just thought, it must be true!”And so they continue to live and see the world as if it is 1930. Or 1960. Or whatever. The same way the senile believe the persons before them are now their long-dead brother, young husband, or child from 50 years before. Every day is the same day. The world never changes. Behavior never changes. There is a near-total disconnect from reality, broken only by confusion, anger, and false feelings of betrayal.
These are also the symptoms or definition of a Psychotic.
Either way, it is not promising for clear, accurate, rapid response to the challenges of our time.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.