51–60 of 102 posts
In my opinion a deflation is what the world and especially the nature needs. People have to stop wasting our limited resources.
I think this is a valid point of view. Has anyone ever stopped and asked if an ever-increasing GDP is sustainable?
So, I have a question and it may seem like a childish or stupid one because I think I've missed something somewhere. Our society, and I think capitalism in general, seems to be pinned on the foundation of perpetual growth. The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources?
So, I have a question and it may seem like a childish or stupid one because I think I've missed something somewhere. Our society, and I think capitalism in general, seems to be pinned on the foundation of perpetual growth. The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources?
The folly of capitalism is that it realizes a world in which constant growth is a natural law of the universe.
In my opinion a deflation is what the world and especially the nature needs. People have to stop wasting our limited resources.
+ 'Resources' are a whole other issue
+ By whose definition do you mean 'wasting'?
+ Deflation is a scary thing not because prices go down, that alone is just a number. When deflation hits, what happens is businesses lose incentive to invest. They stop, further driving the spiral.
The reason that the Fed shoots for 2% inflation and not 0% is to keep the treadmill moving just a little bit forward - if it stops or goes negative, it has crazy scary implications.
Businesses need to see the economy expanding in order to make investments in people, capital equipment etc. which is why 'a little bit of inflation' is good.
So, I have a question and it may seem like a childish or stupid one because I think I've missed something somewhere. Our society, and I think capitalism in general, seems to be pinned on the foundation of perpetual growth. The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources?
>The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources? 1. Some resources are truly unlimited. We can ultimately meet all our food and energy needs via unlimited energy from the sun, for example. If necessary, the economy would adjust to do just that. 2. We aren't going to be limited to one planet forever. We'll be mining extraterrestrial objects long before we run out of stone or…
Past Chinese growth has set expectations too high. It is ridiculous to point to a 6.6% growth rate and say it is low.
So, I have a question and it may seem like a childish or stupid one because I think I've missed something somewhere. Our society, and I think capitalism in general, seems to be pinned on the foundation of perpetual growth. The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources?
Increasing productivity can increase the output while other factors of production stay the same. Reducing material intensity and energy intensity allows growth under material and energy constraints. If population starts to decline, you can continue increasing GDP/capita even in material terms. Although in practice I think reduced demand from population decline is bigger issue than material resources.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The question for me is: how can we have infinite growth on a planet with limited resources? 1. Some resources are truly unlimited. We can ultimately meet all our food and energy needs via unlimited energy from the sun, for example. If necessary, the economy would adjust to do just that. 2. We aren't going to be limited to one planet forever. We'll be mining extraterrestrial objects long before we run out of stone or…
As for point 2: you’re underestimating the distance between stars. Trade on the interstellar scale can’t exist; so we’re limited to at most our own solar system (I would count a colony in a new solar system to be a separate system altogether).
The overspending always must come to an end when for every additional monetary unit in debt you get very low improvement in the economy but you in debt the future. You are living from your children income.
What usually comes after that is destruction of capital, either by war(you loose all what you have) or inflation, deflation or both simultaneusly(terrible deflation in some things,terrible inflation in others).
You can make the general population pay for it(raising inflation higher than incomes), or you can make the owners of capital pay for it(haircut of 30% or so of their worth).
Of course the owners of capital, like the owners of the NewYorkTimes do not want to pay for it. So they will try to influence the population to do what is best for them basically with propaganda.
In the past it was basically States and Church the only capable institutions for using propaganda. Right now there are also private institutions who control what people feel and think through PR, ownership of media, think tanks and Universities.