end of growth

Deficit Reduction = Recession

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The math is not difficult. The US has an annual GDP of $14 trillion, and the nation’s current $1 trillion in annual deficit spending is seven percent of its GDP. Growth in GDP has recently been running at about two percent annually (though in the last quarter of 2012 the economy actually contracted slightly). The relationship between deficit spending and GDP growth may not be exactly 1:1 but it’s probably quite close. The conclusion is therefore inescapable: doing away with a substantial portion of deficit spending would reduce GDP by a roughly corresponding amount, almost certainly causing the economy to tip over into recession.

Economics – Feb 22

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•Let’s play fantasy economics. Things could really get better
•Re-imagining a world beyond capitalism and communism
•The End of Growth Wouldn’t Be the End of Capitalism
•Nationhood and the multitude: a new form of political subject?
•Nature and the economy: Marxism in an American labyrinth

Public health, thermodynamics and the cat food commission

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A previous article discusses the future of health systems operating under neoliberal ideology as it comes a cropper in a world undergoing degrowth. Here I consider how this thrusts public health into in a “Which side are you on?” dilemma likely to separate its institutional administration from its frontline professionals –and the public it is meant serve- as part of the larger process of political/economic conflict, cultural and environmental decline, chaos and (possibly) cultural renewal.

Nate Hagens: Things are not going to be as easy over the next 40 years

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Recently Karen Rybold-Chin interviewed Nate Hagens, former editor of The Oil Drum and former Lehman Brothers vice president, questioning him about a future economy without growth and an environment suffering climate change. Nate Hagens asks whether ultimately – contrary to our animal nature – we are willing and able to plan for future generations by reducing our own energy consumption and economic growth.

It’s not the economy, it’s the stupid paradigm

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Americans’ level of concern for the environment waxes and wanes, depending on how the economy is faring, as illustrated in the 2011 Gallup chart below. The chart shows responses to the question whether the economy or the environment should be given preference asked from 1985 through 2011. Note the trending decline in concern for the environment starting in 2001 with a precipitous drop in 2008 when the economy hit the skids. It’s a truism that our environmental behaviors and our understanding of causes of environmental degradation always lag behind the level of our environmental concern. Why?

Economies should be shaped to suit man

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Sacred Economics is a hugely ambitious book. It takes aim at the most basic intellectual and moral foundations of our modern industrial societies. The author, Charles Eisenstein, is fully aware that many of his arguments and proposals will seem naïve, utopian and hopelessly idealistic to sceptical readers, versed in the realities of current-day economic theory and practice. However, as he puts it, these ideas only ‘await a deepening of the crisis for the unthinkable to become common sense.’

Energy, Economy and the Impending Rite of Passage

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The American Dream is a meme forged in the aftermath of World War II that embedded the promise of prosperity, success and upwards mobility into the country’s cultural lexicon. It seems this Dream is coming to an end, leading many to wonder what comes next. This essay articulates a more realistic vision of how the world works as well as how rites of passage can lead people towards a worldview that will serve them well in years to come.

Charting a new course for the U.S. and the environment

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After more than four decades as a leading environmentalist, Gus Speth is disillusioned with what has been accomplished. What’s needed now, he says in an interview with Yale Environment 360, is a transformative change in America’s political economy that will benefit both society and the planet.

Starting down: seven deadly sins

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For those of us who live in countries where we use many fossil fuels, we have been shielded from the consequences of living badly. But that age is ending. Now that the Mayan Baktun 13 calendar has passed, we begin the era of the Gaian calendar. We “will eventually have to reduce either our populations or our living standards (emergy use) by 80 to 90 percent” (Odum & Odum, 2001, p. 170)