Limitless Growth

I was re-reading Paul Roberts' "The End of Oil" the other day, mostly out of morbid curiosity regarding how many of his predictions came true or seem just as plausible fourteen years later. And something stuck out to me. His take on American Capitalism and its need for perpetual growth is that it is at odds with the finite natural resources we all rely on.

Then it dawned on me. There is a way to have perpetual growth, a permanent growth based economy is possible, but we have to address certain glaring market distortions in order to bring it about. At first they will seem harsh or unbelievable but stick it out and think it through on your own, and it is nearly impossible find a flaw due to the inherent simplicity.

The first market distortion is the idea of corporation, the notion that a logical entity greater than the sum of its parts is created and grows independent of the human actors involved is problematic. A company fills a market niche, but once the original owner/creator of the company is no longer able to carry on, that company should be liquidated. That would open the segment of the market up for innovation and healthy competition from new business seeking to grow into that niche. Carrying on towards monopoly a company that no longer has the heart and soul of the original creator or initial investors is doing so heartlessly and soullessly.

The second market distortion is the idea of inheritance. For healthy competition and real growth, the marketplace of ideas needs a level playing field. How many times in history has a world changing idea been lost to obscurity, simply because the originator couldn't gather the funds to pursue it? We may never know. But one thing we DO know is how many times sub-par or down right ineffective concepts have been shoved into the market because someone was born with deep pockets. This kind of distortion is dangerous because it allows antithetical motivations to control systems we have all come to rely on.

Furthermore both of these types of market distortions generate an entitled minority and lead to unhealthy levels of inequality. When a person doesn't have to put in the effort and ground work for a hard earned place in the market, they more easily devalue the contributions of others. Often this is because they feel a deep insecurity over their own inherent fraud. Striving to shut the door behind them; as it were, is the only option they see as a way to legitimize their grasp on their unearned stature. Today, the best and the brightest are no longer calling the shots, just those who lucked into the right family or company.

This explains not only the anti-intellectual trend of pop-culture, but also the idolization of the idle rich. This has lead to the wholesale squandering of the amazing resources we all should be sharing provided by the natural world. Other benefits would include a more resilient economy, as no corporate entity would become "too big to fail". As well as stronger, smarter adaptation as the entrenched complacency personified with "we've always done it this way" would no longer maintain its stranglehold on ingenuity and resourcefulness in a constantly changing world.