PEAK OIL - EPOCHAL EVENT OF OUR LIVES

[HowardHughs]

Is the World Becoming Wealthier or Poorer?
March 27, 2019

"the expansion of "money" creates an illusion of rising wealth when in fact the natural capital we depend on is declining rapidly."

the degradation of wild fisheries, the loss of soil fertility,the decline of fresh water tables and the shrinkage of glaciers that feed fresh water rivers don't make it into "price discovery" of markets.

The problem is we have based our entire civilization on "growth," the never-ending expansion of consumption of resources, energy and capital, the the permanent expansion of everything: jobs, consumers, credit and so on.

The planet's natural capital and buffers are being exploited and consumed at a rate that guarantees disruption of essentials such as grain and fresh water. There are no cheap technological fixes to the depletion of natural capital. No robot or AI software can restore depleted soil or replace soil that washed away.


If we add in the loss of natural capital and the full lifecycle costs of our "growth"-dependent global system, we;re losing ground and becoming poorer by the day. Having central banks create more "money" can generate a phantom wealth for a short time, but as the saying has it, Nature Bats Last. Counting on phantom wealth to power an unsustainable system is delusional.

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar19/world-wealth3-19.html