end of growth
sastyk | October 10, 2011It was interesting to me that my comments that protesting the economy without also including elements of economic protest were taken to mean "I think Occupy Wall Street is bad." I still think that to be genuinely effective, protests of capitalism have to take into account what will replace it - and our own implication in the system, but I am happy to see the protests growing, and developing an emergent sense of possibility.
I think Jim Kunstler hit it on the head this week:
This is the funniest part to me: that leaders of a nation incapable of constructing a coherent consensus about reality…
sastyk | August 23, 2011If you have to accustom yourself to the end of growth, the Onion reassures us that it won't be too hard:
63 percent of Americans said they had come to rely upon the familiar sense of dread that came from knowing the country was quickly losing its place as an economic superpower, while 71 percent described finding a kind of tranquility in the steady, predictable cuts to local, state, and federal funding.
In addition, 80 percent reported they had been tightening their belts for so long, the thought of loosening them again after all this time just felt unnatural.
"You get used to sending 50…
sastyk | July 19, 2011Ok, folks, I'm taking a poll - what do you call a society and an economy that can't keep growing, but can get better in ways that haven't been part of the conventional measures. What I'm looking for is a word or a couple of words that are evocative, not boring, not too wordy or wonky and appealing.
Obviously, this is not a new concept - lots of writers and thinkers have played with this one. The problem is that I haven't liked any of their language. "Steady State Economy" is way too boring. "Ecocentrism" sounds way too close to "egocentrism." I like the word "subsistence" but let's be…