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Who Killed Economic Growth?

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They're Lying To You

Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits. Author Richard Heinberg proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history.

This brilliant animation, produced by the Post Carbon Institute, explains that with the Industrial Revolution rapid growth became normal. Economists pointed to innovation, increased trade, division of labor. But it was mostly a result of cheap energy. We could do more than ever before with cheap coal and gas. Economists assumed the absurd notion that growth could go on forever.

The economies of the wealthiest nations started stagnating years ago, as resources began to run out. Governments, businesses and households went into hock up to their eyeballs gorging on easy credit. The financial system created ever more complex securities and derivative schemes to soak up all that debt and make perpetually rising profits on imaginary assets.

The mother of all bubbles burst in 2008 - and we have not headed toward "recovery". And recovery to what? More bailouts, debt, more consumerism and resource depletion?

We can live without economic growth but we'll have to start doing a few things differently. Those very things are expressed in videos in all the categories right here on Nextworldv!

--Bibi Farber

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