And here's the challenge - how do we become a ...

2011-02-10T16:51:01.385-08:00

And here's the challenge - how do we become a society that is content with everything we need, without completely destroying the economy that provides us with everything we could possibly want? At the moment, we are a consumer economy - the big engine of the economy is the spending by consumers for perishable consumer goods. That's an attempt to meet unlimited demands. Credit is offered to overcome the other side of the economic coin, limited means to buy stuff. This is a non-viable situation, as we're rapidly finding out.

To what do we transition to squelch the consumer-demand demon? Do we transfer more money from our personal purses to public works to rebuild our national infrastructure? Do we distribute it around the world to invest in public works projects in the most backward countries? Do we decide that we'll actually earn less, so that we don't become consumed by the temptation of "more, more, more"?

The ends to which we devote our lives seem out of whack right now. I don't think our consumer society is a long-term project. What is in the future, if we are to survive, even more, if we are to thrive?

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And here's the challenge - how do we become a ...