Economic Growth Sucks

I found myself ranting on LinkedOut about the absurd World Economic Conference at Davos.

Do we need economic growth? I find myself answering “no”.

What we need is a fairer distribution of what we have already got. We should achieve this not by taking away from the rich and giving to the poor but by cutting population radically so that we can make do with what we have rather than  consuming ever more.  Although there is no doubt that we have no need of fat cats and robber barons. The planet would be a far nicer pace without such psychopaths.

Who needs 7 billion mostly greedy, nasty humans on this otherwise beautiful rock in the middle of nowhere?

Not the rest of the rapidly diminishing flora and fauna, that’s for sure.  In days gone by a good plague would sort it out. War and ethnic cleansing also played its part. The Norman conquest wiped out much of the population in Northern Britain.  The Black Death reduced the world population from around 475m to 350m. And look what a well aimed meteor did to the dinosaurs.

Why do we need “growth”? What is the purpose in economic growth? What we need instead is a rapid and massive population decrease instead and a return to nature and beauty.

What we need is food, medicine and shelter. What we do not need  is an ever expanding population of motor cars. Or airplanes, oil tankers and tower blocks.

Get rid of 90% of the world’s population and return 90% of the planet to nature. Plow up the roads and the airports.  Knock down the tower blocks and the petrol stations. Plant forests…everywhere. Plant flowers and encourage birds and beasts to roam where once they did.

My waffle on cynicism proved a great step forward in firming up my worldview. Yes, Diogenes and his ancient mates got it right. The rest of us got it wrong.

We don’t need Davos and the Kardashians. We certainly don’t need Trump Towers or the Trump Casino. What we do need is a return to nature, a move away from vanity and the pursuit of the material. Dust to dust is a phrase we should have on the tip of our tongues every day.

I’m not wanting to become a Noble Savage. They never existed. Lives were and remain nasty brutish and short.  Well, nasty and brutish anyway.

I’m all for science, all for medicine and improvements in our health, mental and physical. And don’t tell me economic growth is necessary for its continuance. It is not. Activity is necessary, yes. And work. But work should not be slavery, should not entail drudgery in the dark satanic mills we have become imprisoned in.

We need a whole new paradigm. Work as fun, work as satisfaction. Work as beneficial rather than a rip off ponzi scheme. Work as trees and plants and flowers and beauty.

Not work as desecration of beauty but as the creation of beauty. Create beautiful homes but fewer of them for a smaller population. Concentrate on what makes humans happy, not rich and bloated.

My hero Vermin Supreme promises voters a pony for every family. I must find a suitable sized Wellington Boot, place it on my head, and run for high office.  I will campaign for Utopia and a forest for every family.