(Photo: David Levene for the Guardian)But it's taken me this long to calm down about it enough to put my thoughts into writing.
Here's the thing. "Reviving the economy" by getting people to spend more money is SOLVING THE WRONG PROBLEM - and creating a passel of new ones to boot.
For too long now, western economies - most economies, in fact - have been run along lines whereby the 'metrics for success' go like this:
- No growth, or worse, economic contraction - bad.
- Rampant growth - bad.
- But a little bit of growth, clipping along at 'sustainable levels' - that's generally regarded as a good thing, for all sorts of reasons.
These are dumb metrics, taking into account only a narrow range of a country's 'good's (by which I mean olnly those positive factors that can be measured in financial terms). And even then, within that narrow stream of measures, the numbers serve only to mask the undercurrent of rising familial instability and decay: ever-increasing personal debt levels and fragile job security serve to hollow-out families' ability to sustain themselves. Where they can do so, the financial climate means that it's by virtue of having all the adults in the household go out to work (sometimes at several jobs), instead of caregiving; this creates its own unfortunate social impacts,
It may be painful for those people and businesses who make their livings, and rely for their identities, on selling unnecessary "stuff" to the masses - but we do, desperately, need to change the way we do things so as to bring an end to the inane, insane consumerism that's in the end consumed only our own wellbeing.
There are many reasons why this should be the case - here are just a few:
- a reduction in consumption is useful in combatting climate change. Producing unnecessary stuff, distributing it, and eventually disposing it are all CO2-generative activities. Recession is good for the climate!
- a reduction in consumption, if it comes about because people stop spending their income on things they don't really need, will free those individuals and families from some of the schackles of personal debt. An improvement in their finances should stop them from being chained to unfulfilling jobs, and free them to spend time with their families and friends or engage in other socially and otherwise productive activities.
- a society where we're not constantly being told we're crap if we don't have the right clothes, or car, will help to free us of these deeply flawed values. It would enable us, and most importantly our young people, to discover for themselves this important truth: a life of happiness does NOT come from the pursuit, acquisition and possession of stuff. It comes from being of service, appreciating what you have and connecting with your fellow humans as well as non-human nature. Sappy as it may sound, these things can lead to real joys. Further, the improved social connections they create help people develop the emotional resilience that lets them handle tough times, when they inevitably arrive.
But no - not shopping. Stoppit.
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