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> Consumerism, over-consumption, and the economic growth these behaviors drive are impossible to eliminate without crippling the global economy. Then let's ask
by tempguy9999 7y ago
> Consumerism, over-consumption, and the economic growth these behaviors drive are impossible to eliminate without crippling the global economy.
Then let's ask the question. What are the medium (5-20) years and long (100 years) consequences of such crippling in your view? I am not an economist so any insight from an expert would be good.
- shredprez 7y agoNear term, the radical contraction or failure of most businesses that directly or indirectly depend on consumerism and over-consumption as the prevailing social behavior. In America, that's a lot of businesses. In China, that's a lot of businesses. And much of the world effectively serves consumerism in these large nations. Long term... depends? Maybe people figure out a different mechanic to drive growth and re-orient. Maybe people abandon growth as a goal and shift toward a steady-state model (this would be interesting, but would have big global power implications unless every nation signs on). Maybe people suffer for a bit before rediscovering how powerful consumerism is as an economic engine and get back into it for a while until the costs start catching up to them again. As the foremost expert on "my view", you can depend on these predictions to capture with total accuracy what I believe to be the crippling consequences mentioned earlier.