Chapter5-Population Stress: Old vs. Young on a Full Planet & The Post-Growth Struggle between Rich and Poor
It’s interesting how the age demographic of a nation’s population will have dramatic consequences. Populations with more youthful populations will be hit harder by the end of growth because of the amount of the people who are of working age but won’t be able to find jobs and yet are still reproducing and creating a greater population. This feeds into the cycle of poverty which in turn leads to population growth through more pregnancies in those who are poor and uneducated. There will not be enough employment, money or global resources to support these growing populations. The youth will be resentful of the older populations who frivolously wasted their resources and left them in a bad situation. The older populations on the other hand have the opposite problem in which there isn’t enough young people to support the work force of the economy. The older people need to be supported by the nation but without the revenue from taxes from those youth who work it becomes a big problem.
The struggle between rich and poor is nothing new but still something that needs to constantly be addressed. At a time of ending growth those who are poor will be hit the hardest and will mostly be the ones fighting for change. At the same time the rich will be least effected, though they might not see it that way, because they are already set for life even if they can’t continue to make the massive amounts of profits/money as they do now. They will fight to keep the status quo and try to keep this conversation from taking place. Inequality is a problem and a pretty obvious one at that. I strongly agree with the author that lots of what he has talked about is seen as negative and distressing but more importantly it is real and needs to be discussed as so. Things aren’t always peachy and we can’t just pretend they are because we don’t want to be burdened with the depressing truth.
Chapter 6-Introduction & The Default Scenario
This section is focused on what will happen to the economy and our nation in general if we continue to follow the same path we are on.Again the outlook is dismal and disturbing but real and it is important to look at and understand. We can no longer turn a blind eye and pretend everything is alright and if we do so it will lead us to the “default scenario” Heinberg describes. The current model of our economist that growth is always possible and will eventually continue is a model that needs to be thrown out and have the focus be put on the reality of the situation. If we do nothing to change this, our economy, country, and quality of lives will all be adversely affected. We will run out of money for important parts of our nation’s budget that goes to helping the people. The government will get bigger and more restrictive, but not it a good and helpful way. It will restrict the rights of its citizens and offer less assistance to its people. We need to focus on the real issues here and stop trying to find a scapegoat while ignoring the most pressing issue which is that our approach is flawed from the start by not coming to grips with the fact that there will be an end of growth.
Chapter 6- Haircuts for All…or Free Money? & Post-Growth Money
The first section is about ideas that would help provide more time to come up with actual solutions to our economic problems along with adapting our economy to the new model of growth ending. He makes it clear that theses themselves are not the solutions just steps that could help us buy time. These ideas of haircuts for all and the printing of new money to pump into the system are very interesting. I have thought about the making of money one before but new of the problems with inflation it causes but never realized that the amount of debt we are in could actually protect inflation from occurring if printing money under the amount of the current debt. That seems like something that should be looked into more and treated as a viable option. Also the haircuts for all idea really intrigued me. I learned about haircuts for businesses and on bailouts and such but never on an across the board scale like the one Heinberg wrote about. To be able to “reset” a great deal of the debt, credit and interest in the economy by doing this sounds very appealing and is something I would be interested in learning more about.
I would be in heavy favor of getting rid of this debt based money system in which we live. I have never been a fan of money, and I know that sounds weird, but I truly believe, no matter how cliché, that money is the root of all evil. People sell their souls for the almighty dollar and to do what with it. Some just collect it in insane amounts that could never be spent in a lifetime, while others work most of their lives for it and never get to really enjoy it. We put ourselves in insane amounts of debt by borrowing money, using credit and falling victim to the high interest rates for thing we don’t even need. We give money the power it has because without our belief in it it’s just a bunch of worthless paper and IOU’s yet they control our lives.
Chapter 6- Our Problems Are Resolvable In Principle
We are facing a huge problem with not only our economy but how the world is run in general. There is hope still alive though, because these issues are solvable. We have identified the major problems we are faced with and what there causes are and now we need to do something about them. We cannot sit back and allow the status quo to continue just because it is easier than facing the dark reality of our situation. I really liked when Heinberg said “if civilization fails, it won’t be for a lack of good ideas”. There are plenty of people with great ideas that need to be looked at, taken seriously and examined thoroughly. We need to take charge of this situation and fix the problems we created. I also liked the ideas of Lester Brown that to contain or overcome the threats of the 21st century we need to eradicate poverty, conserve resourced, reform the world’s food system, raise energy efficiency, and develop renewable energy. I feel these seem fairly obvious but I think they should. I don’t think our problems are as complicated as brain surgery and so neither are the solutions. Unfortunately to do these things we will also need to reform our power structure, government and way of life which will be a lot harder than it sounds.
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