Michael Tobis wrote:
> What I don't like is its assumptions. "Growth is good". "Growth is
> sustainable". "Money is wealth". "The wealth of a society is
> measurable". All of these are only useful approximations over short
> time periods, and don't necessarily mean very much in the long run.
>
> Economic theory needs to learn about scaling arguments. Terms that can
> be ignored on one time scale can dominate on another, like volcanic
> emissions in the carbon budget.
>
I agree entirely that the economic arguments are deeply flawed and
meaningless on longer time scales - say those of a human lifetime. For
example, what is a house in the suburbs or a deluxe SUV "worth"? In
today's economy, with an abundance of inexpensive oil and environmental
costs either ignored or passed on to others, those items are "worth" a
socially agreed-upon amount. However, the times are changing; oil is
becoming more expensive both in dollars and in our realization of its
environmental destruction.
Assuming no convenient replacement for oil (i.e. one that costs the
same to create and distribute, allows all the machinery to continue
running as it had, and does not have the negative environmental impact
of burning fossil fuels), what is the value now of the house in the
'burbs and the SUV? If we converted to an entirely sustainable economy,
the 'economic damage' to the current economy would be massive. However,
there would be a different economy, perhaps even stronger and more
resilient.
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