Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog [4],
Overbuilding and overconsumption as models of "growth" have reached exhaustion.
I recently addressed the bogus model of "growth" based on adding retail space and the DeGrowth movement, which is based on a sustainable model of doing more with less.
The American Model of "Growth": Overbuilding and Poaching [5] November 19, 2013
Have a Merry DeGrowth Christmas--Boycott Black Friday [6] November 20, 2013
Gordon Long invited me to discuss these topics with him, and the result is this 25-minute video of informative slides and our unscripted discussion of the exhaustion of the consumerist/expanding retail space model of growth.
LOOMING US RETAIL IMPLOSION: An Urgent Re-Think Required [7]
Various propaganda attempts are being made to air-brush lackluster holiday spending into a happy story of strong "growth," but the over-all picture is of stagnation, not "growth."
The propaganda will soon shift to predicting "strong after-Christmas sales" and gift card redemptions in January; if after-Christmas sales are the foundation of "growth" and earnings, the U.S. economy is in real trouble.
Santa, Please Let This Be the Last Christmas in America That "Saves" the U.S. Economy [8](December 19, 2012)
Santa, please, please, please strangle the idiotic fantasy that Americans buying a bunch of junk (or gift cards for after-Christmas purchases of junk) will "save" the U.S. economy.