Beyond the "Growth Fetish" --an example of how the debate has passed us by

[cryofan]

Here is a book review by some publication outside the USA. It is a good example of a huge political debtate that is virtually unheard of inside the USA. This is a debate about the fundamentals of what a society should be and how the govt should behave in order to enforce the people's will about what a society should be. I find it fascinating that the VAST majority of Americans would have NO idea that this debate is going on elsewhere.

Some excerpts:



In Growth Fetish, Hamilton admits that, in the past times of scarcity, growth was beneficial - but he argues that in today's era of superabundance development no longer leads to subjective wellbeing. To support his argument, he quotes opinion polls showing that people in prosperous societies are often unhappy with their lives, and points to the rise of psychological disorders in the developed world. His view is that today's constant striving for growth simply reinforces misery: 'Economic growth does not create happiness: unhappiness sustains economic growth.'

Hamilton's thesis is essentially based on the fact that over the past 30 years people have become less happy, while at the same time the economy has grown. While it probably is true that more people are diagnosed with psychological disorders now than in the past, this hardly means that economic growth is to blame. There is no straight line between higher GDP and the amount of Ritalin prescribed to schoolchildren.

A more likely cause of unhappiness is the miserabilist character of contemporary debate - a miserabilism that Hamilton is part of. His downbeat view that economic growth is unsustainable and the cause of misery has become something of a consensus today. There is a widespread pessimism towards progress, and a tendency to worry about the downsides of development.
....

Hamilton seems to believe that neo-liberals, free marketers who believe in economic growth at all costs, have taken over the world. Although he recognises the existence of the Third Way he sees it as accepting the key assumptions of neo-liberalism. Apparently Hamilton is the lone heroic figure willing to stand up to the neo-liberals who threaten humanity with destruction.



http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA483.htm

[xchrom]

1. that pretty much falls in line

with some of my thoughts.
and i find it interesting that my 90 something year old parents find the world too oriented towards money. they struggled as adults through the depression and voted republican until the second admin of reagan. they then began to see that world was passing on the importance of human potential and began to see the problem as the incessant grubbing for money we all do and the rich becoming a serious health threat to the economic health of every body else.
that from my 90 something parents.

[LWolf]

2. No straight line:

I don't believe there is a straight line between growth and misery; it is one of many factors leading to stress.

I see two different topics here; the first being the causes of stress in developed nations, and the second the value, (or not) of perpetual growth.

I have spent a lifetime horrified by the growth model. More is not always better; when the economy of a nation or the world depends on creating more all the time, I do see a direct connection to planetary ecological destruction. You cannot continue to gobble up resources and open space indefinitely. It takes a growing population to feed the machine of growth and development, and that growing human population in turn puts stress on available space and resources.

Personally, I would advocate for non-growth; stop "growing," and figure out how to improve the services and use of resources we've already got. I would not only stop "growing" the human population, I would advocate decreasing it.

Is there an economic model based on "balance" instead of growth? If not, we need one.

[xchrom]

3. indeed population is a huge part of the problem

and i think we ''feel'' it as much as know it.
i think it's a gut feeling that translates, along with other problems, into a notion that there's nothing we can do about it.
that's not true of course -- but it feeds our addiction to consumerism by giving us temporarily something else to think about.

[Muddleoftheroad]

4. Many factors

There are many factors why people are miserable. They include:

* Rapid change -- It makes everyone uncomfortable.
* Massive change in technology -- Impossible to stay current except for the most tech savvy.
* Information overload -- Just too much to know for anyone to keep up.
* Disolution of the family -- Remember the nuclear family? It blew up.