Growth

[Muzk]

Why does capitalism need growth to exist? Why can't(theoretically) everyone live in a happy zero-sum economy? Is it simply because some "humans" always want more?

I tried to think about this for some minutes now... and I can't think of more other than "more humans = more production/consuming -> growth", and if it goes down by just a tiny bit there's some kind of chain reaction since less spending means less jobs means less money to spend means even fewer jobs...



Why is growth needed in capitalism?

[cyu]

Is it simply because some "humans" always want more?



I don't know what contemporary theories say for your main question, but I would say "No" to this part.

Excerpts from http://everything2.com/user/gate/writeups/unlimited+wants+and+limited+resources

I submit that it isn't really logical to assume wants / needs are infinite. I would say wants / needs are often determined by advertising, which often preys on the "irrational" aspects of human behavior, just as Buddhism may "prey" on the same aspects in order to dispel a person's wants / needs.

One of the problems is that once capitalism had set property ownership in stone, then other people are forced to produce more and more useless things in order to make a living.

For example, say some agribusiness owns vast amounts of farmland and is already producing more than enough food for everybody. Maybe there isn't enough farmland left for anybody else to use, or maybe the agribusiness can simply outcompete any other small-scale farmer trying to enter the market. What's left?

Well, there is no other recourse than to find a non-farming related occupation. Maybe it's entering a factory producing plastic toys for people's dashboards. However, as you can see, this job is really pretty useless - nobody really needs plastic toys on their dashboards. So how is the entire sector of useless industries sustained? Advertising. The goal is to convince the people in the agribusiness to trade you their stuff for your plastic toys.

It's not even like people have an intrinsic need to advertise products - they are only forced to do so because if they don't, their company may go bankrupt and they'll be forced into economic hardship - which is only a problem in capitalist society.

So you've got overworked plastic toy makers and you've got overworked agribusiness employees. This is measured as an increased GDP and considered "increasing prosperity" by some idiots.

So after the bubble pops, of course, the plastic toy makers would be among the first to go - it's much easier to cut back on spending for toys than on spending for food. Maybe the remaining plastic toy makers would redouble their efforts at advertising, trying to convince the food producers that they should buy more toys.

The food producers meanwhile think, "why should I help you unemployed toy makers? I have to work for my living, so you should too." So they go back to working their 80 hour weeks, while the unemployed go back to "working" their 0 hour weeks. "Brilliant", eh?

As I see it, either there are industries that still need people working in them, in which case the economy should train as many of the unemployed that it can to fill those industries... or there aren't any more industries that still need people working in them, in which case the economy should let the people take a f**king break.

[The Broke Cycle]

Why does capitalism need growth to exist? Why can't(theoretically) everyone live in a happy zero-sum economy? Is it simply because some "humans" always want more?

I tried to think about this for some minutes now... and I can't think of more other than "more humans = more production/consuming -> growth", and if it goes down by just a tiny bit there's some kind of chain reaction since less spending means less jobs means less money to spend means even fewer jobs...



Why is growth needed in capitalism?

Debt-based financing.

Capitalism is a pyramid scheme.