CommonDreams: US Economy–Recession, Depression, or Collapse?

Published on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
US Economy–Recession, Depression, or Collapse?
by Shepherd Bliss



“For Consumers, the Hits Keep Coming” a recent banner headline in a New York Times-owned daily newspaper here in Northern California reports. The article misses the main points. If we continue to understand ourselves as primarily passive consumers, rather than as active citizens, the US economy will enter at least a recession, probably a depression, and possibly a collapse. Even our republic is at risk.

Rampant consumption, our addiction to growth, and our failure to accept limits to growth damage us. The headline beneath the banner-”Cleanup Response Criticized”-reveals one of the saddest results. We are not adequately cleaning up the San Francisco Bay after a recent oil spill. Many other aspects of our environment need cleaning up. Without a healthy natural environment and climate conducive to humans, no economy can endure. Over-consumption drives the increasingly extreme and chaotic climate.

We have contaminated our air and waterways, clear-cut our forests, and our inner cities are dying. The pollution of such natural resources often preceeds economic and societal collapses.

I appreciate the Press Democrat for recently reporting the emerging economic trends in numerous articles. What I miss is more analysis, connecting the dots and providing context. The shrinking dollar, soaring gas prices, housing slump and stock market fall, though inconvenient, are not the biggest threats to the economy. These are symptoms caused by deeper systemic problems. We need to learn from these events and discover how to build more sustainable societies. Otherwise, these “hits” are likely to increase and spread.

We need to quickly evolve from our destructive individual consumption patterns that damage not only the economy but the Earth itself. We need to consider their many negative impacts and work together as active citizens concerned with the whole economy and the environment on which it is dependent.

Look around. Things are falling down and apart in the US, including cities like New Orleans, the Minneapolis bridge, and the Twin Towers. An increasing number of high-level government officials-like Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales-have been forced out of office. The cuts are likely to go deeper. One can try to ignore, deny, or seek revenge for these events, all of which invite more disasters. Prudent planning would be a better alternative. These are not isolated events but point to systemic causes.

These are more than the “economic cycle of advance and retreat” that the Nov. 10 article reports. It is not just “things (that) have come together in the last 10 days.” The US’s false economy has been de-stabilizing for years and is now reaching a more degraded stage. We have become vulnerable to a variety of “hits” and should expect even more. Our economy has been described by some as a “house of cards,” which is likely to fall. An unraveling is occurring, creating a time of great uncertainty and fear. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/14/5210/

Time was that thrift was valued. The person who wore the same clothes, kept up their house and means of transportation was looked up to. It didn't matter how much you had as much as how well you kept your word. You were looked on as wise if you could provide some of your own food, could build things that lasted.

There are still plenty of folks out there who have these old values. I'm hoping more and more folks will come back to them.

... and our failure to accept limits to growth damage us."

How true, and the never ending expanding economy is a requirement of our flawed system, the roots of which trace to our poisonous monetary system. This presentation "Money as Debt" explains a lot:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18205.htm

Amen to that. The beast needs to be starved.