Central planning now called degrowth!

Dr Catherine Knight writes:

In spite of the name, degrowth advocates do not suggest the carte blanche reduction of economic activity. They propose the downscaling of parts of the economy that do little to contribute to human wellbeing while causing enormous harm to the environment. Examples of such sectors are industrialised meat and dairy production, fast fashion, advertising, cars and SUVs, and aviation.

Don’t you love it. Someone who claims that food and transport contribute little to human wellbeing.

Degrowth advocates argue that whether we like it or not, we will get to a point (and it may be sooner than we realise) when current growth rates are no longer viable, and our existing economic system will collapse.

They have been arguing this since at least the 1970s, and have been wrong for all that time.

This would be a more rational and efficient economy because it would be centred on producing goods and services that we actually need, not ones that we are persuaded we need through all-pervasive advertising.

This is the classic hard left attitude. We the enlightened few know what is good for you. You, the teeming masses, are so stupid and inferior that you don’t know what you actually need, so we will decide for you.

Degrowth proponents acknowledge that the downscaling of significant parts of the economy will mean less paid work for those working in ‘sunset’ industries, and propose policies such as a universal basic income, publicly funded retraining schemes and a four-day week to address this.

I guess we just print money to pay for this.