Loading ...On another note, I’ve noticed a switch in the financial news these days, where a lot of folks are analyzing whether or not we’re in or about to start a “recovery”. As far as I can tell they are basing their analysis on how much money people are spending on buying stuff. It’s as though the one stark fact of the global boom and bust is just going to go away.
We cannot consume our way to prosperity.
In order to be prosperous, we have to make more than we use. That fact rules out a recovery based on making cars and TVs and routers, because all those things use more (in nonrenewable resources) than they provide.
The only things we have left to make — or, in most cases, rebuild — are the soil, human ecologies such as buildings and cities, and communities.
When we have fecund soil, livable villages, and thriving inter-generational ties to our neighbors, then we’ll have recovery. The financial pages might miss it, but at that point few people will need to read them anyway.