If We Do Not Change Direction, We Will End Up in the Same Place that the Crisis is Taking Us

Confronting a No-Growth Economy

The main problem facing the global economy is that growth has stalled and excessive money printing has led to inflation. There is a saying which goes something like this, if you do not change direction, you are likely to end up in the same place that your life is taking you when you are in a crisis. This means that in times of crisis, there is an urgent need to reverse gears and change directions or otherwise, we will end up in an economic abyss.

Especially when one considers the fact that, the policymakers all over the world have been unable to “solve” the present crisis, which means that unless we take radical steps to confront and conquer the present crisis, we will end up being victims of it instead of coming out strong from the crisis.

Moreover, the no growth economy has meant that speculation is rampant and when one trades in paper without any backing of tangible assets, eventually the paper one is trading in becomes worthless because it does not have an intrinsic value leading to a crash of historic proportions.

Un-Sustainability of the Present Economic Model

The second problem that is staring at us in the face is that the current economic paradigm is dead and there is nothing to replace it. Indeed, the intellectual bankruptcy is so high that all experts are unable to arrive at a solution to the present economic model that has failed miserably. The only way out of the mess that we find ourselves in is through sustainable economics, which means that the days of infinite growth are over, and that we have to confront the inconvenient fact that infinite growth is not possible in a finite world.

In other words, the sooner we adjust ourselves to the new economic realities of resource-constrained growth, the better it would be for us to start living within our means and not have fantasies of double-digit growth, which is not coming to us anytime soon.

The point here is that an economic model based on too much debt and a fast depleting resource base needs more growth to sustain itself and when the growth is not appearing anywhere, the only way out would be for us to change the direction in which we are heading and instead, lead our lives in a manner that is sustainable.

Environmental Destruction and Climate Change

The third and an often-overlooked problem that the world is facing is that our current economic model has caused so much environmental damage that it might be too late to save the environment. The only other option would be to try to slow down the irreversible processes of climate change and global warming so that we might at least be spared of the worst consequences.

As has been pointed out repeatedly in this article, if we do not change direction, we are headed down the path of disaster. When changing direction becomes difficult, we can at least slow down the vehicle so that we can limit the damage to ourselves and to our future generations.

The point here is that many of the problems that the world is facing are beyond the point of no return and hence, unless urgent steps are taken, we might be just about managing to join the long list of species that have become extinct because of our unsustainable ways of living.

Concluding Remarks

Finally, though the points made in this article are gloomy, it needs to be mentioned that most of those points are valid and relevant to the current state of the world. Therefore, without concerted action by policymakers and the citizens of the world, we are headed in the path of ruin. The fact that we have not inherited the earth, but have merely borrowed it from our children needs to be emphasized here.

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