I was reading a pretty funny article today talking about the global economy resetting, because while stock prices keep climbing, real wage growth keeps falling in comparison and at some point, it will all have to come back to reality. Obviously this isn't the funny bit. The funny bit is that they were presenting it as if it is something new.
Literally.
The line after this title is:
The idea that the globe is rapidly approaching a point of no return is not limited to fringe internet economists. The International Monetary Fund shares similar sentiments.
Well - now that the IMF has acknowledged it, it must be true.
None of this is new information.
And it has been obvious for many years that we are heading toward a point of economic no return, because of the blatant greed of the system that we keep supporting. A system that eats itself without reservation, because the only incentive is to maximise wealth, without tying it to anything that matters or forces it to adjust and recalibrate - like human wellbeing. Instead of adjusting to maximise wellbeing, the economy adjusts to maximise wealth. It is like the thought experiment with an AI that is told to maximise paperclips, it will eventually consume everything, including us, to reach its endless goal.
There is no such thing as wealthy enough in this economy.
And I am not talking about individuals either, who might get to a point of so much wealth they don't want any more. I am talking about the need for constant growth of the economy as an indicator of success, where there are constant cycles and adjustments made to devalue and crash money and the economy so that more money can be generated and amplified and used to take more and more power and control, so more can be made again.
Corporations never say "we made enough last year, let's keep it at this level" - it is always looking for another ten percent, another twenty. But if a company grows at 10% a year, it is going to double its size every 7.2 years. For a little perspective, if we were to double the population of the earth in the same time frame, every woman would need to have over four children in that period, and almost no one could die.
So when all companies are looking to grow. All governments are looking to grow. All investors want their ROI to grow, and all people want their wages to grow and everyone wants to buy more, and have more, and do more, and... Well, you get the picture right, it is unsustainable.
But when it comes to the economy, it is possible to keep it growing by continually devaluing it, because none of the money is real and isn't tied to anything. More can be printed, more can be created through fractional reserve lending and interest rates, more can just be pulled from thin air, whenever it is wanted by some people. And because it doesn't need to be mined, it doesn't need to be produced, it doesn't need to be attached to anything, it can all happen without the average person being aware of what is actually going on.
It still affects us though.
Money might not be real, but because we believe that it is necessary and important and that we can't do anything without it in the world, it affects us and dictates almost every factor of our life and our potential. The food we eat, the possibilities we have, our education, our housing, our hobbies, our relationships, the way we raise our children, the entertainment we have, our travel...
Our experience.
And for the most part, the average person's experience with money, is negative. There is never enough to do what is wanted, and often not enough to do what is needed. Money impacts heavily on our wellbeing, because much of what we consider important for quality of life, requires money to facilitate and open the possibility. You can argue this, and many do - but almost 100% of people who say that money isn't important to them, should give up all they have for a while.
Note: It didn't work for the Buddha.
The reset is coming and it seems that we are accelerating toward it. This is the way it goes of course, because that wealth gap is widening exponentially, and the wider it gets, the closer the collapse. When that reset does come, it is going to be terrible for everyone in ways that are unimaginable to most people now, but rather than learning from it and creating a system that doesn't depend on compounding wealth growth, we will likely rebuild the same system again. And again. And again.
And we call ourselves an innovative species.
Taraz
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