Looking Back From the 23rd Century

Once upon a time there was a great empire, far more powerful than that of ancient Rome. On the founding of this mighty empire, a tiny nation at the time, their professed ideals sent a charge of hope around the world. In a world ruled by kings and ruthless tyrants, here was a new nation that stood up for the rights of people. This tiny nation declared that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights such as Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It called all people free except the black people that some of them owned. The Blacks were not considered people because they were property. Almost a hundred years passed before the Blacks were declared a free people. Their freedom came at a great loss of life on both sides of a great Civil War.

Ownership Society, 2004, Ed Lucas

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Our Economic Black Hole

…We’re at a crossroads. Up to this point, cheap and abundant energy has fueled consistent economic growth. The only real discussion among the managerial elite was how to grow the economy—whether in planned or unplanned ways, whether with sensitivity to the environment or without.

Now the discussion must center on how to contract. Sadly, that discussion is radioactive—no one wants to touch it. It’s hard to imagine a more suicidal strategy for a politician than to base his or her election campaign on the promise of economic contraction. Instead, discussions in policy circles tend to turn on how to maintain the illusion of growth. Denial runs deep, but sooner or later reality will make itself known.

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