Economic growth is unsustainable

Economic growth is unsustainable. Our economy, as it is today, is based on growth. If the economy isn't growing, the economy is bad, and a lot of bad things happen. That is because of the premises that our economy is based on.

I am not an economist. But I do think about the economy, and I wonder if economists think at all about the economy the way I do. I like to think about the big picture. That means considering as many aspects of an issue over the longest term that is practical. When considering the economy, and its basis on growth. I think of what that growth is based on. And I think that growth is based on people. Consumers.

Consumers in the aggregate contribute to growth in two ways. The first way is by consuming more, and the second way is by creating more consumers. Neither of these two contributors of growth is sustainable.

We have already increased our consumption to the point that as Americans we consume substantially more per capita than the rest of the world. Not only has this resulted in an unprecedented depletion of our natural resources, increased pollution and a host of other problems, but we are exporting our consumer culture to the rest of the world, skyrocketing the levels of global consumerism.

And as far as creating more consumers, beyond the exportation of our consumer culture, more consumers are created by creating more people. Population growth creates more consumers.

So, I look at the long term, or even medium term, and see that this is unsustainable. Even looking far enough into the future where globalization has pulled the whole world's population into the consuming economy, the point comes where there are no more undeveloped countries to add to the economy. In that future everyone lives in a country that has a high level of consumerism. Further growth on that front is essentially gone. The only other way for the economy to grow is to add more people. More people, more consumption. How ever many people you think this finite planet can sustain, that number is not infinite. Regardless of where you think that limit is, there is a limit.

So, given that there is a limit to the expansion of markets, and a limit on the expansion of the earth's population, it seems to me that there is a limit on the capacity of economic prosperity to be based on growth. That being said, I believe we need to look at that future and begin the transition to a sustainable economy that is decidedly not based on growth. We need to visualize that future and start to implement the policies that make it possible and make it work.