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The 'Degrowth' Mentality Promises a World of Poverty and Misery

4 25
25.10.2024

Economic Growth

Steven Greenhut | 10.25.2024 7:30 AM

Some ideas are so incredibly asinine and destructive that you'll of course find some high-brow academic movement that promotes them. Such is the case with something known as "degrowth"—a burgeoning philosophy arguing that humanity's continuing pursuit of economic betterment is unsustainable and a threat to the planet. Popular among environmentalists, it's a predictable end point for some climate-change warriors.

Per a pro-degrowth website, this idea "critiques the global capitalist system which pursues growth at all costs, causing human exploitation and environmental destruction." It wants to "prioritize social and ecological well-being instead of corporate profits…and excess consumption." Degrowth "requires radical redistribution, reduction in the material size of the global economy, and a shift in common values towards care, solidarity, and autonomy."

It's the latest environmental-oriented take on the same-old left-wing totalitarianism, as it would take immense government power to radically redistribute resources and determine how to re-order society. However this concept would be implemented, it certainly would enslave and impoverish virtually everyone, and lead to famine and misery.

Degrowth is unlikely to become a governing model anytime soon, but it's........

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