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CounterPunch
October
11, 2002
The Greatest
Deception of All Time:
The Blessings of Growth
by Jerre Skog
You hear it almost daily. "Growth first half
year has fallen to less than 0.3%" or "Economical growth
has to increase if we are not to..." or "We have to
have steady growth or we have nothing to distribute". Except
for the obvious reply "Why don´t we distribute, more
fairly, the wealth we already have?" (and the fact that
the wealth added by economical growth is generally distributed
with something like 10% to the poor, 20% to the middle classes
and 70% to the already wealthy), there´s a fundamental
flaw in the growth philosophy: Everlasting growth is dependent
on everlasting supply. The producers might be able to con people
into buying almost everything in these days of murdering sales
promotion and ads but unless they have the raw materials nothing
will come out of the machines. And the raw materials are limited!
Which means that the economical gurus
who hail growth as the base for economical success and the statesmen
who make this an overriding goal (probably 95% of them) for some
reason either must have missed almost all their geography lessons
when in school, or are lying like mad. According to all science
the earth has a certain mass and dimensions which don´t
seem to increase as to follow the growth-idiots´ plans.
But of course the people who talk about eternal growth know very
well that it can´t go on. That´s why they are so
desperate to lay their hands on as much of the natural resources
they can before they run out completely, some in the next ten
to forty years. Don´t they have children or grandchildren?
Do they expect their offspring to live in caves? Maybe in the
future they have plans to ship iron ore from the moon or copper
from Venus, I don´t know, but having experienced the common
just-in-time trend in business I greatly fear for the delivery
time and price if I need a 20mm M6 bolt for my Opel and the raw
material has to be dug up in a mine on the moon. Perhaps that´s
what the traditional economists have envisaged for their children.
To start interstellar raw materials freight lines?
Let´s be absolutely clear about
this! (I mean really, and not in the Nixon sense of making things
perfectly clear.) The planet earth consists of only so much iron,
copper, uranium, oil, gold, cobolt and other materials, and not
one bloody milligram more. Any growth that is based on taking
out these limited resources from the ground is doomed to come
to an end. While talking about limits we should perhaps remember
that all talk about oil and a lot of other things as being produced
is lies! We don´t produce any oil, we take out what is
there. We don´t produce copper, we refine ore already there.
And what is there, surprise surprise WTO, is limited. Unlike
the pig Saerimner, in the vikings´ belief of the beyond
death, Valhalla, who is slaughtered every winter and reappears
to be slaughtered next winter again, that part of our common
cake is not renewable.
Much of the growth in the traditional
sense depends on limited raw materials being used to produce
things. from paper clips to printing presses. Much has a short
life span, like computers or detergents, some longer like a Rolls
Royce Silver Cloud ´34 or a hammer. Some of the growth
that is the basis for those holy figures making up the national
product is actually not very positive. A population that because
of foul air has to run to the doctor and get medicines every
now and then, will help raise the growth of the medical and pharma
industry but as long as the ailing can work the GNP figures will
be positive and will not indicate the decline in national health
or the suffering of individuals. A traffic accident causing major
damage but deaths only of nonproducing people (kids and old folks)
might actually be very good for the economy in the traditional
sense. Plenty of new autos sold, lots of repairs and other economical
activity. This is why we have to kick out everyone who tries
to con us with such nonsens as growth. Those figures are today´s
snake oil!
Some resources will no doubt last for
a long time, iron and coal are a few of them, but others will,
already without increased demand be exhausted long before the
21st century is wrapped up. Oil, which most leaders in their
infinite wisdom have based the transport systems on, will be
finished in perhaps 20, and latest 50 years. Even mr Bush Junior,
will be able to see the last drops being fought over if he lives
a normal life span. And yet in 2002 he is still prepared to send
100.000 innocent people to their deaths and spend 100s of billions
to hasten the exhaustion of it!!! He must have missed both the
geography and mathematics lessons, when in school. (Not to mention
basic ethics!!) Oil man?? Sure! Snake oil!
Some resouces are, thank god, renewable.
As long as Monsanto & Co haven´t caused a catastrophy
by their genetical experiments, or their insecticides haven´t
by mistake taken out the wrong species, new rice, wheat and trees,
fish and chicken will grow up and can, as long as we handle it
with care, respect and moderation, be harvested at regular intervals.
Trouble here is we obviously still haven´t learned either
care, respect or moderation which is why the fishes in large
areas are so few and small that they hardly meet a species friend
until they are ground to powder to feed the pigs.
To understand growth and its implications
we have to adopt an economical view on things. Mind you, not
an economists view! Economists still hold true that when reality
collides with their theories, reality is incorrect. It makes
much more sense to follow the example of the farmer who knows
he has X acres and what those acres yield, repeatedly, is what
can be taken out. A big and agressive country might find that
it can take over some acres from other countries or take control
over their oil fields, to keep its growth rising, but of course
this is just an illusion on par with the conjurer´s tricks.
Reprieve for a short period to conceal the bluff! And the final
awakening to reality will be the harder the longer it goes on.
Besides, taking things from other people has a tendency to cause
a bit of resentment and someone usually has to pay for that sort
of arrogance. Everything taken out from the cupboard of exhaustable
resources is gone forever, unless it can be recycled.
Those who shop till they drop may very
much enjoy their latest acquirement of mahogany-imitation plastic
panelling for the kitchen, but the day is not far away when real
mahogany will be the only alternative. Sorry, a bit more expensive!
And of course the almost forgotten art of carpentry has to be
reinvented. Come to think of it, where did all the people go,
who not so long ago could repair clocks, shoes, furniture, clothes,
radios, cars and lawn mowers? And from where came the people
who can only fix a minor problem on the TV, washing machine or
computer by exchanging module 23WXS37984-91M to another, hopefully
faultless one, after we have returned the piece of junk (in its
original packing) to the producers warranty departement in Upper
Volta?
There´s no reason to get depressed
though. We only have to learn some new skills. Recycling of what
we have is one thing. Using renewable energy is another. Unfortunately
we don´t get much help from our elected (or unelected)
politicians. All over the world they seem dead set on going on,
much like suicide detachments, without missing a step in their
unending quest for growth. Most people are not so stupid that
they thoughtlessly use up all their available stock of something
that is very difficult or even impossible to renew. That´s
people! Now take a look at economists and politicians!! Produce,
spend, use and waste!! What we need to do is start dismissing
each and every person, who claims that growth is the solution
to anything, as a liar, cheat and enemy. The undustrialized nations
have to start learning to live within their own means. Just like
they tell us to do! The next time you hear a speaker talk in
the usual reverent tones about the holy economical growth, contradict
him or leave. Next time Greenspan says it, send him a mail telling
him not to be unpatriotic! To lie to the citizens is definitely
unpatriotic! Next time the president uses figures of economical
growth as proof that the nation´s finances are sound, add
that lie to the rest of his repertoire of deceptions.
In some areas, surprisingly, we can have
growth that doesn´t take a bite from the cake. If you go
to the hairdresser and have a haircut, the services industry
will have (limited, I agree) a slight lift. If all people in
the nation cut their hair double as often as usual the growth
in this sector might actually go from 1.7136 to 1.7137%, but
unless you really need those haircuts it seems a bit unproductive.
And if any electricity is used it has to come from renewable
sources or the cake is again nibbled on.
Production using recycled raw materials
and renewable energy in clean nonpolluting processes that manufacture
things that normal people need (as opposed to automatic platinum
champagne coolers that play "Hail to the chief") is
really the top of state of the art. May we have some more of
those? Please?!
Let´s also remember that according
to many scientists a lot of us never learn to use more than around
20% of our brain capacity. (Sorry Georgie-boy, you had your chance!
Now live with that brain!) Here´s a field for growth that
only a moron would bypass by letting education deterioriate,
simplistic marketing brainwash the population and stupid entertainment
grind down the left-over cells.
To belive in endless growth on a limited
planet one has to be either an idiot, national economist or brain-dead
politician!
So why do we let those people govern
us?
Jerre Skog
is a Swedish writer, musician and alternative observer living
in Germany since 1999. More articles, political and satirical
can be found on: Jerre´s Thinktank www.skog.de
Comments are welcome at: jerre@skog.de
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