{"id":61873,"date":"2018-01-19T10:15:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T15:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/unless-we-kick-our-addiction-to-growth-were-heading-towards-a-debt-fuelled-dystopia\/"},"modified":"2018-01-19T10:15:24","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T15:15:24","slug":"unless-we-kick-our-addiction-to-growth-were-heading-towards-a-debt-fuelled-dystopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/unless-we-kick-our-addiction-to-growth-were-heading-towards-a-debt-fuelled-dystopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia<\/b>
\nWe can\u2019t sustain infinite economic growth on a finite planet, and it\u2019s increasingly clear that governments\u2019 attempts to do so are having devastating social and environmental consequences. It\u2019s been obvious for decades that our addiction to growth is unsustainable, so why aren\u2019t governments getting the message?<\/p>\n

GDP is a crude measure of economic activity. It represents the sum total of all the goods and services being produced in an economy. But it takes no account of those things\u2019 true value, or of the cost of creating them. As Robert Kennedy famously pointed out, it measures cigarette advertising and jails but not \u201cthe beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages\u201d.<\/p>\n

Our determination to maximise growth has led to severe environmental degradation. It\u2019s held us to extract the planet\u2019s resources at an unsustainable rate, and induced a catastrophic increase in carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it remains the most popular indicator of economic progress. A small uptick in growth is celebrated with fervent enthusiasm, even as more real-world indicators, such as real incomes – continue to stagnate, or household debt – continues to increase.<\/p>\n

The growth narrative relies on the belief that \u201ca rising tide lifts all boats\u201d \u2013 that growth in the size of an economy increases the opportunities for all citizens. \u00a0Some writers have joked that a rising tide lifts only luxury yachts, while all the other vessels sink. As inequality and increasing levels of poverty become too big to hide, \u2018inclusive growth\u2019 is a term to ensure growth benefits all – but why do we have to stick to pursuing growth at all costs?<\/p>\n

There are several reasons why governments think growth is beneficial and essential, and that if we didn\u2019t focus on it so much there would be significant social and economic problems as a result. Some of the common ones are that growth is necessary to reduce poverty and raise living standards. They\u2019ve been widely debunked, and experts have shown that prioritising growth is an unnecessary – and even an unhelpful way to pursue these objectives.<\/p>\n

But while there have been compelling reasons to reject many of these sources of \u201cgrowth dependency\u201d, one reason clearly is a cause for concern. Since households, businesses and governments are in debt to each other to such a significant extent, the only way to manage these debts is for the economy to grow.<\/p>\n

A new report from Positive Money, published on Thursday, proposes two remedies for this last source of growth dependency, both of which involve reforms of the money and banking system upon which the rest of the economy rests.<\/p>\n

The main source of money used by citizens is created by banks \u2013 over 97%. \u00a0Though evenmost MPs aren\u2019t aware of this, banks create new money when they make loans, and through this process, money is created as an IOU, or debt.<\/p>\n

The vast majority – about 80% of these loans – go into property and financial markets. Wage decline has resulted in households having to take out more debt just to get by, meaning that in the UK, private debt stands at 219% of GDP. Not only do such high levels of private debt pose serious financial stability risks, but they also fuel the government\u2019s single-track focus on pursuing growth to make these debts manageable.<\/p>\n

We could therefore make the power to create money a public good which works to serve society rather than burderning it with more and more debt. This could be done through Sovereign Money Creation, or \u201cquantitative easing (essentially creating new money) for people\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Bank of England can create money without increasing public or private sector debt. So rather than using it to continue to create hundreds of billions of pounds to pour into financial markets, as it has done since 2009 through conventional QE, a smaller amount could be created and put straight into the real economy, via investment in green infrastructure or a citizens dividend to wipe out unsustainable debts.<\/p>\n

But with some scientists forecasting that catastrophic climate change could be unleashed in a matter of years rather than decades, perhaps we need to be bold enough to also think about more systemic measures. This is why another reform proposed is aSovereign Money System, where private banks would lose their privileges to create money simply by lending. This would pave the way for a new economy, no longer based primarily on endless debt and endless growth.<\/p>\n

Such ideas may seem utopian, but as a debt-fuelled dystopia approaches, a world beyond growth dependency is not only necessary, but could be closer than we might think. It is worth remembering that economic growth itself was only introduced as a priority in the second half of the twentieth century. Just as ideas and the systems they produce have been changed before, we too have the power to change them again.<\/p>\n

For more content and to be part of HuffPost\u2019s new economy community join our Facebook Group
\n
\nwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/growth_uk_5a61fa2ce4b074ce7a0793be<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia We can\u2019t sustain infinite economic growth on a finite planet, and it\u2019s increasingly clear that governments\u2019 attempts to do so are having devastating social and environmental consequences. It\u2019s been obvious for decades that our addiction to growth is unsustainable, so why aren\u2019t … Continue reading Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nUnless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/unless-we-kick-our-addiction-to-growth-were-heading-towards-a-debt-fuelled-dystopia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unless We Kick Our Addiction to Growth, We\u2019re Heading Towards A Debt-Fuelled Dystopia We can\u2019t sustain infinite economic growth on a finite planet, and it\u2019s increasingly clear that governments\u2019 attempts to do so are having devastating social and environmental consequences. 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