The Altar of Growth
Let me introduce Pat Trahan, Vice-Chairman-Lafayette Market at Iberia Bank, Lafayette, Louisiana. A few years ago Pat began paying attention to Jubilee Economics via our website. Subsequently, he visited me in San Diego. What a great conversation we had, sipping a beer and looking out over the Pacific. He continues to be influenced by the strong and radical social teachings of the Catholic Church. In a subsequent blog I will introduce the pocket neighborhood he has created in downtown Lafayette where he lives. Pat is joined with all who read these blogs in his desire to align his life more with a jubilee economy. A key component in a OneEarth jubilee economy is that growth cannot be the primary measure of an economy's strength. Much of what a growth economy does includes aggressive depletion of our planet and redistribution upward that exploits poor people. Here are reflections he shared with some friends in 2011, entitled "The Altar of Growth."
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I'm beginning to think that most of our problems around economics and unjust distribution of income and wealth is due to the fact that we have a near universal assumption that growth is always good and growth is all that is needed for everyone to prosper---the rising tide lifts all boats mentality.
I think we have proven that this trickle down theory is a lie. The trickle down model does not produce trickle down behavior or outcomes. The "all growth all the time" model does not have any reflection or rebalancing built into the system. In fact it has become growth for the sake of growth with little regard for anything else. Nearly all economists worship at the altar of growth or never ending ascent. Growth in GDP is all that matters.
We know now that this produces a society that is not just. It also seems to violate the laws of nature, as everything else in nature is subject to seasons, cycles, ebb and flow and eventual decay. It seems that we now believe that these natural laws no longer apply to economics. In fact, we believe that we must provide artificial stimulation to overcome the natural ebb and flow so we can ensure that all of the lines on all of our our graphs of GDP, income, wealth and money are always and only moving up and to the right.
God's design called for a regular Sabbath to call us to rest, reflect, restore and to ask ourselves who is being left behind. Whose boat is not being lifted? Who is failing to make it in the upward pull?
God's design also called for an occasional Jubilee to purposefully rebalance by liberating slaves and debtors and providing wide access to the means of production. Our models have nothing similar to this. At best, we redistribute some of the fruit of production via social safety nets. The means of production, wealth and power all become increasingly concentrated and the masses are enslaved and indebted and become increasingly frustrated.
Is our economy working to serve the needs of the people or are our people working to serve the needs of the economy? What would happen if we rejected the growth for the sake of growth paradigm? Could we have a more just and sustainable economy?
