<
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/>
"We might also build on the better side of human nature as ironically
invigorated by our collective war on COVID-19. In many places, society’s
fear of disease has been leavened by a revived sense of community,
solidarity, compassion and mutual aid. Recognition that disease strikes
the impoverished hardest and that the pandemic threatens to widen the
income gap has renewed calls for a return to more progressive taxation
and implementation of a national minimum wage.
The emergency also draws attention to the importance of the informal
care economy — child rearing and elder care are often voluntary and
historically subsidize our paid economy. And what about renewed public
investment worldwide in girls’ education, women’s health and family
planning? Certainly individual actions are not enough. We are in a
collective crisis that demands collective solutions.
To those still committed to the pre-COVID-19
perpetual-growth-through-technology paradigm, economic contraction
equates to unmitigated catastrophe. We can give them no hope but to
accept a new reality.
Like it or not, we are at the end of growth. The pandemic will certainly
induce a recession and possibly a global depression, likely reducing
gross world product by a quarter.
There are good reasons to think that there can be no “recovery” to
pre-COVID “normal” even if we were foolish enough to try. Ours has been
a debt-leveraged economy. Thousands of marginal firms will be
bankrupted; some will be bought up by others with deeper pockets
(further concentrating wealth) but most will disappear; millions of
people will be left unemployed, possibly impoverished without ongoing
public support."
Via
libramoon@pluspora.com.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
