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Like many politicians, Barking’s MP Margaret Hodge repeats
the jobs and growth fable. In her MP’s column (BD Post, 23 May) she hints at
jobs in defence and Aerospace. British Aerospace makes an impressive fighter
jet – if we could sell more of these we could create more jobs. The best thing
to do would be to sell them to all sides in any conflict as this should help
extend the conflict, increase demand for the planes and create more jobs.
Perhaps we could also make and sell land mines - if we don’t already - as
there’s a lucrative market in devices to find and neutralise them as well,
which we could expand into. The destruction wrought by war is excellent for
economic growth, as it creates the need for lots of construction work, not
least for hospitals to treat the wounded combatants and innocents. Our own
involvement in any conflict will also increase the threat (real or perceived)
of attacks on our country. This will generate lots of work for the security
services and industry, armed forces and police.
This extreme example of the very serious failings of growth
in GDP as a goal for our planet’s economy may seem sarcastic, but it’s
very real. “Growth” sounds positive, but lift up the bonnet and examine more
closely what growth in GDP actually entails and it quickly loses its
attraction.
An increasing number of people – though apparently not
politicians - are realising the truth that we live on a finite planet, so
growth cannot continue for ever, and advocating as the economic goal for
‘spaceship earth’ the well-being of the creatures on this planet, especially
humans. First and foremost this requires the meeting of the biological needs of
people on the planet – nutrition and water, shelter and such basics that a
large number of our fellow human beings want for. I think the ‘spaceship
earth’ metaphor is a good one. On a spaceship you would look to conserve
resources and co-operate to ensure the success of the mission. You would
mininimise the amount of work needed to fulfil the mission, especially the work
done by people (by use of automation). In our homes we broadly welcome the
labour saving brought by technology, yet our politicians cry out for more jobs,
meaning , more work to do except for the public sector, where they
say they want greater efficiency, which pretty much entails fewer jobs.)
The future for our species is the use of science and
technology to increase human well-being directly, within the finite resources
available. Jobs and growth have nothing to do with this."
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