Growth and Jobs  

JD at POD has an interesting rant about economic growth and jobs up at Peak Oil Debunked - Growth = Jobs. I think he's being too harsh about the TOD editors and readership when he declares virtually all "anti-growth" - obviously many doomers tend to be anti-growth, but not everyone at TOD is a doomer. Personally I'm strongly in favour of continued economic growth - however I think it should be directed to areas that are sustainable (clean energy sources, smart grids, electric transport, dense environmentally friendly building and cities, cradle to cradle manufacturing systems etc) and I'm of the belief that making people richer means they tend to have fewer children and thus solve the environmental side effects of the "population problem" by slowly ending population growth and entering a (roughly) steady state.

Of course, you could argue that we are actually capable of producing everything we need or want, thus continuing economic growth, without everyone needing to work (which seems to be a modern day heresy but is something I believe myself), which would be an interesting, but different conversation.

Through many changes, one thing stays constant in the peak oil community: opposition to growth. Colin Campbell, Kunstler, Heinberg, virtually the entire staff and readership of the The Oil Drum... They all believe that growth is insane, and have vehemently and incessantly attacked it for years.

I think it's high time that we followed this anti-growth agenda to its logical conclusion.

On the surface, an anti-growth site like The Oil Drum seems to be comprised of very smart, rational people who have the best interests of the public at heart. But is that really true?

Well, there's no doubt that the title of this post is true: Growth = Jobs. So a strong case can be made that anti-growth advocates are very much not in the public's corner. The logic is straightforward:

* Anti-growth advocates (The Oil Drum, Heinberg etc.) are in favor of a halt in growth.
* A halt in growth will cause massive unemployment.
* Therefore, anti-growth advocates are in favor of massive unemployment. ...

This line of thought occurred to me when I was reading about Obama's projected stimulus package, so I asked the folks at the Oil Drum about it:

My point is this: if you genuinely believe that we must stop growth because it is killing us (a view which I believe I can fairly ascribe to the vast majority of people on the Oil Drum), then how can you, in good conscience, support measures which are aimed at reigniting growth, such as Obama's upcoming stimulus package and similar packages in other countries?