by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
UK is now in a second recession say the experts. Now what a surprise, NOT. It was obvious to anyone in the real world and negative growth is but a spin word.
Output shrank by a 0.7% in the second quarter and Britain is now deep in a double-dip recession. The economy hasn't just stalled, it has gone into reverse.
The spin doctors, however, are still banding the “negative growth” term about and also blame this and that for the fact that the economy has shrunk further. The weather, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee bank holiday, etc., and so forth.
The fact is that the economy, and not just that of the UK, is in a mess and this is also due, primarily more like, to the fact that we no longer make anything in Britain (and we are not alone there either).
Jobs are being outsourced and still the morons in government expect people to be able to spend money on goods, especially on homes and such.
Furthermore the powers that be also need to come to the realization that we cannot spend our way out of the recession and that growth cannot be sustained on a limited Planet.
We need to reduce consumption in order to be able to keep and maintain the Planet, our Earth, at a livable level and then, slowly, but surely, reverse some of the damage that we have done to Her.
Our governments have created an economy the growth of which is dependent on consumption and ever more consumption. One can but wonder how it was that the economic world did not collapse in the “old days”. The truth is that repair of products was part of the economy and that kept things on a level.
The boot maker also repaired them, the clockmaker did the same, and so on and so forth, and many people made their own things and repaired their own goods and still the country ran, and ran well. Then again, no one was looking for several thousand percent profit and bonuses of up to hundred times their salaries either.
Returning to the values of the economy of the early 20th century would not be a bad idea and also, in some ways, to the way we traveled then and lived then.
I am not advocating that we abandoned the modern things of today but I am advocating to return to living closer to where we work and to traveling again by bicycle, on foot, and on public transport, rather than by car.
That also means that shops, post offices and small businesses must return into the villages and towns so that people are not dependent on cars to get to the stores.
We must return to sanity or we will face dire consequences.
© 2012
