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“The Focus is ‘Enough’ Rather Than ‘More’”
“The Focus is ‘Enough’ Rather Than ‘More’” The mainstream economics notion that unfettered growth accompanied by greater consumption and productivity benefits society is false, argues Rob Dietz, Program Director at the Post Carbon Institute. In an interview with getAbstract, he shares his vision of a new economic way forward. getAbstract: In a nutshell, could you give […]
Let’s Be Less Productive
Let’s Be Less Productive HAS the pursuit of labor productivity reached its limit? Productivity — the amount of output delivered per hour of work in the economy — is often viewed as the engine of progress in modern capitalist economies. Output is everything. Time is money. The quest for increased productivity occupies reams of academic […]
Steen Jakobsen: The Four Horsemen Portend A Painful Reckoning
Steen Jakobsen: The Four Horsemen Portend A Painful Reckoning Even the US is now ‘swimming naked’ Steen Jacobsen, Chief Economist and Chief Investment Officer of Saxo Bank sees economic slowdown ahead. Specifically, his “Four Horseman” indicators: the drivers of economic growth, are all flashing red. Jacobsen believes that the central banks will continue their liquidity […]
Why Is Productivity Dead in the Water?
Why Is Productivity Dead in the Water? The only possible output of this system is extortion as a way of life. As the accompanying chart shows, productivity in the U.S. has been declining since the early 2000s. This trend mystifies economists, as the tremendous investments in software, robotics, networks and mobile computing would be expected […]
Social Media, Not Religion, The Opium Of The People
Social Media, Not Religion, The Opium Of The People Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. – Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique […]
The Pie Is Shrinking So Much The 99% Are Beginning To Starve
Melissa E Dockstader/Shutterstock The Pie Is Shrinking So Much The 99% Are Beginning To Starve How much longer until the pitchforks come out? Social movements arise to solve problems of inequality, injustice, exploitation and oppression. In other words, they are solutions to society-wide problems plaguing the many but not the few (i.e. the elites at […]
The Falling Productivity of Debt
The Falling Productivity of Debt Discounting the Present Value of Future Income Last week, we discussed the ongoing fall of dividend, and especially earnings, yields. This Report is not a stock letter, and we make no stock market predictions. We talk about this phenomenon to make a different point. The discount rate has fallen to […]
Productivity and Debt
Productivity and Debt William Blake Europe Supported by Africa and America 1796 Earlier this week I was struck by the similarities and differences between two graphs I saw float by. And the thought occurred that they are as scary as they are interesting. The graphs show eerily similar trends. And complement each other. The first […]
What Killed the Middle Class?
What Killed the Middle Class? If the four structural trends highlighted below don’t reverse, the middle class is heading for extinction. Everyone knows the middle class is fading fast. I’ve covered this issue in depth for years, for example: Honey, I Shrunk the Middle Class: Perhaps 1/3 of Households Qualify (December 28, 2015) and What Does It Take To […]
A Hard Look at a Soft Global Economy
A Hard Look at a Soft Global Economy MILAN – The global economy is settling into a slow-growth rut, steered there by policymakers’ inability or unwillingness to address major impediments at a global level. Indeed, even the current anemic pace of growth is probably unsustainable. The question is whether an honest assessment of the impediments […]
The persistence of the peasantry: further notes on the inverse productivity relationship
The persistence of the peasantry: further notes on the inverse productivity relationship Look, I’m really, really sorry. I said I wasn’t going to write another blog post about ecomodernism but – no, no, please don’t go! This post strikes to the heart of what Small Farm Future is all about, and raises some interesting agricultural […]
Is the slowdown in productivity growth a result of energy costs?
Is the slowdown in productivity growth a result of energy costs? Slowing productivity growth in the United States has been in the news in recent months. It has become a concern to policymakers because they believe it is one of the primary contributors to a middle-class economic squeeze according to the annual report of the White […]
