[p2p-research] The end of growth?

[Michel Bauwens]

This is really a must-read essay!

and how prescient they were ... it took us 40 years to recognize their
truth, and climate change is the price we paid for not heeding the call of
material limits ...

But it is only a particular kind of growth that has become impossible, the
kind that neoliberalism and friedmanism promoted that refused to take into
account any externalities.

A steady state economy, that recognizes that any input has to recycled back
into the system to the degree that it depletes physically limited resources,
has tremendous 'alternative growth' potential.

This paragraph is key, it points out the the real cause was not the subprime
trigger, but that the trigger itself was caused by the oil price crisis:

"Until recently, the Peak Oil argument has been framed as a forecast: the
inevitable decline in world petroleum production, whenever it occurs, will
kill growth. But here is where forecast becomes diagnosis: during the period
from 2005 to 2008, energy stopped growing and oil prices rose to record
levels. By July of 2008, the price of a barrel of oil was nudging close to
$150—half again higher than any previous petroleum price in
inflation-adjusted terms—and the global economy was beginning to topple. The
auto and airline industries shuddered; ordinary consumers had trouble for
buying gasoline for their commute to work while still paying their
mortgages. Consumer spending began to decline. By September the economic
crisis was also a financial crisis, as banks trembled and imploded."

Michel

On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 12:16 AM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

> This is terribly reminiscent of similar themes in the 1970s.
>
> http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5638
>
> Ryan
>
>
>
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