Chasing the Ghosts of Growth
“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.”
— The Late Philosopher and Economist Kenneth Boulding
The notion that “more is better” is truly American.
And it is also the root of the truly American crisis we now face.
It’s become obvious. More is no longer better. I can easily imagine things getting better for people without any more stuff. In fact, more stuff is the problem, not the solution.
For those of us who are Thinking Beyond Infinite Growth, grappling with the model of endless growth is a battle with many fronts.
More is easier to chase than better.
Growth is a key organizing principle of American politics and a key promise of the current administration. Economic growth is the impetus of the huge tax cuts they are now proposing. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said “The American economy has been held back and this is about unleashing economic growth.”
And while there are relatively few details for how we would allocate the plan’s up to $7 trillion in tax cuts, the administration feels confident that they will “pay for this through economic growth.” The president has said the short-term debt and deficit problems from his plan are necessary to “prime the pump” for the economic growth.
The (dubious) theory is the economy grows enough to create additional tax revenue from more sales and more income to cover the cover costs of the cuts. So the reason for these cuts is growth, and the “how” is … also growth. It’s the end and the means.
Mnuchin’s claim that we can pay for tax breaks with growth represents the core temptation of an infinite growth model. As long as you accept the premise, it’s an easy way to solve your problems without tough decisions. If people aren’t getting enough of a slice of the pie, just grow the pie.
There are a couple problems with that. For one, what good does it do for people who need help to grow the pie if nearly all the benefits flow to an increasingly small number of people? And two, we don’t have endless pie ingredients, we live on a finite planet. And thirdly, when it’s clear that there is already plenty for everyone, why force people to wait for a bigger pie before they are allowed what they need?
Oh, and chances are that our policies to accelerate our economy are pointless.
David Carbon, chief economist at Development Bank of Singapore recently expressed frustration with the consternation about slow-seeming growth. “Where’s the crisis? Where’s the danger? Why should governments pull out all the stops to raise it further? And would it do any good … Odds are, it wouldn’t.”
So even if our political leaders sell the farm (our farm) to achieve economic growth, it will probably not make a difference. In exchange for more stuff, we sacrifice our ability to pay for the stuff we actually need — education, health care, environmental protection and more.
It’s easy to imagine better without more.
Here’s a scenario which comes to mind to illustrate what I mean by “better without more.” Imagine you do some efficiency retrofits to your home and significantly cut your energy bills. But instead of spending the extra money in your pocket, you work a little less to spend more time with your aging mother. It’s deeply meaningful time, but it also means that you don’t need the occasional visit from the home visiting program, which means fewer hours for their staff.
You’ve made your life better, your family’s life better, cleaned the environment by consuming less energy but actually shrunk the economy somewhat.
It comes back to a recognition that we have enough now, and just need to use it more wisely. Nobody needs to be left behind, with or without more growth.
Defining growth beyond the economic.
If we can accept that economic growth does not mean people are doing better — perhaps that at some point economic growth means greater suffering — a new question is raised.
What is the measure of human thriving, and how can we organize our society to see that grow?
Bhutan famously replaced GDP — which really measures the total cash value of an economy — with the National Happiness Index. They focus on policies that make people happier and not increase cash flow.
I think of it in a different way. The true measure of value in having enough stuff is whether it frees you to do more important things.
That’s why I am part of Thinking Beyond Infinite Growth. I believe our capacities as a species should be divested from growth, and put to work advancing human thriving.
Instead of making junk that we don’t need and quickly throw out, let’s make time. Time for the things that really matter — to us, to our families and communities.
