OMNI
ECONOMIC GROWTH WATCH,
October 20, 2018
Compiled by Dick
Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and ECOLOGY
GROWTH, EXPANSION the Dynamo of Capitalism
Of the dozen or more chief features of capitalism, growth
is always at or near the top. Understanding it (and other features of
capitalism, and patriarchy, overpopulation, wars) is important for our
opposition to fossil fuels emissions. The
System: Industrial Revolution, Fossil Fuels Binge, Free-Market
Capitalism, Empire, Wars, Economic Growth, Population, Resources Exploitation, CO2
and Temperature Rise, Climate Chaos
Earlier
Newsletters
(#1, June
17, 2016, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/06/growth-watch.html
#2, July
10, 2016, https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/07/growth-watch-2.html
)
TABLE OF Contents: #3, OCTOBER 20, 2018
PART ONE: ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, OCTOBER 2018,
ON CLIMA TE
ADG’S
LATEST TEA PARTY EDITORIAL AGAINST CLIMATE TREATIES
NADG
REPORTING ECONOMIC
GROWTH: BUSINESS AS USUAL
(JAMES HANSEN, “CRIMINALITY, INDEED”)
THE LATEST IPCC REPORT: IN NADG A FEW PARAGRAPHS FOR 728pp.
PRINTING GARY KAHANAK’S LTE on URGENCY
(and Art Hobson earlier)
PART TWO: GROWTH
ENGELHARDT, ENDLESS GROWTH: DISASTER
CAPITALISM
YATES, CAPITALISM’S INHERENT GROWTH
IMPERATIVE
PART THREE: ALTERNATIVES, RESISTANCE
Meadows, Limits to Growth
Jackson,
Economics for a Finite Planet
Klein, Capitalism v. the Climate
Arkansas Climate Change Lobby
OMNI Climate Book Forum
Galtung, No Growth Towns
PART FOUR: CLOSELY
RELATED
Overpopulation
Grant, Too Many People
OMNI
Overpopulation Newsletters
Patriarchy:
Books by Mies, Eisenstein,
Moghadam.
OMNI Patriarchy Newsletter
Making War Illegal
Kellogg-Briand Pact
OMNI Anti-war and
Nuclear Abolition Newsletters
CONTENTS
PART ONE: ARKANSAS
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, OCTOBER 2018 VS. FOSSIL FUELS ACCORDS
ADG’S
LATEST TEA PARTY EDITORIAL in Two Parts
Part One, “Forget Paris”: A defense of Bush and Trump for withdrawing
from the “useless” Kyoto and Paris Accords
Part Two, “Forget Paris II”: ridiculing a
misrepresented description of the Paris Accords.
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/oct/19/forget-paris-ii-20181019/?opinion
Pg 6B Oct 19, 2018 NWADG
Pg 6B Oct 19, 2018 NWADG
(both
forwarded by Charles Sisco, CLL)
STRIKE UP THE BAND WITH
THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Here’s a handful of
recent celebratory reporting of growth in the business as usual NADG during June-Oct. 2018.
WAR PROFITEERS, WARFARE NATION
Dana Hull and Richard Clough. (Bloomberg News). “Defense Contractors Harris, L3 Agree to $33.5B
Merger.” NADG (10-16-18). “…poised
to capitalize on military spending increases under President Donald Trump,” the
“behemoth” will be “one of the industry’s largest players” to “challenge
weapons-makers such as Raytheon Co. and Northrop-Grumman Corp.” “The combination adds to a flurry of
aerospace and defense deals fueled by higher government spending….”
TRANSPORTATION
AIR TRAVEL
“LR Airport on Pace for 2 Million
Fliers.” NADG (7-17-18).
“Bill and Hillary Clinton National
airport “is on track in 2018 to top 2 million passengers for the second
consecutive year….2.4 percent higher than the same period in 2017.” June a “4.08 percent more than in June last
year.” (At NA Regional Airport,
Highfill, “a 9.24 percent increase over the same month last year.”) Read George Monbiot’s essay, “Love Flights.”
Ron Wood. “Parking Deck Set to Open in August.” NADG (6-14-18). The new parking deck at the NWA Regional Airport, Highfill. “The four-level deck with 1,400 parking
spaces….cost about $30 million.” Take
that and stuff it George Monbiot, you and your anti-flying “Love Flights.” Ron Wood. “Airport Group Hopes to Speed Access Road.” NADG (7-14-18). Melissa Gute. “[Bentonville] Private Money to cover Work at
City Airport. Projects planned to Widen
Runway, Improve Traffic Flow.” NADG (6- 27-18). Laurinda
Joenks. “[Springdale] Airport Project
Closer to Taking Off.” NADG (7-3-18). Frank Lockwood. “Airport Aid Program Gets Infusion.” (I missed the date, probably on or around
10-7.). Melissa Gute.
“NWA Flying Club Taking Off.
Membership Grows Leading Up to Fieldhouse Opening.” NADG (10-7-18).
TRUCKING
“FEDEX’S 4q Gain Grows 10% to #$1.13B.” NADG (6-20-18). “J. B. Hunt’s Earnings Hit $131.1M in 3Q.” NADG (10-16-18). “…up from $100.4 million a year ago.”
OIL COMPANIES
Shea Wilson. “Murphy Oil’s Net Income Tops $45M in 2nd Quarter.” NADG (8-9-18). “The company produced 171,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day….” creating $618 million for the second quarter.
“Refinery Builder Aims to Sidestep Panel.” NADG (8-10-18).Meridian Energy planning a $800 million plant 3 miles from Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota seeks state dismissal of complaint by environmental groups.
BANKS
“Bank of America’s 3Q Profit Jumps 32%.” NADG (10-16-17). As “lower corporate tax rates helped it save hundreds of millions on taxes.”
“How Arkansas’ Congressional Delegation Voted.” NADG (10-7-18). “Aviation Programs….” Approved 93-6 HR302 “$90 billion for aviation programs” and other budgets, thumbs up by Boozman and Cotton.
MONOPOLY: Growth Through Mergers for Profit
AMAZON ACHIEVES $1 TRILLION IN EQUITY VALUE (up there with Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Google). “…the rapid ascent is a validation of the growth-at-all-costs ethos that has defined Bezos vision.” NADG (9-5-18).
“U.S. Clears $68B C VS-Aetna Tie-Up.” NADG (10-11-18). “…would create a giant with a hand in insurance, prescription-drug benefits, and drugstores across the United States.” The Justice Dept.’s antitrust division signed off on the deal, but “consumers could end up with far fewer options and higher expenses.”
“Tyson Moves Closer to Deal for Keystone.” NADG (10-17-18). “The all-cash acquisition expands Tyson’s domestic production and global reach into Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.”
TRUCKING
“FEDEX’S 4q Gain Grows 10% to #$1.13B.” NADG (6-20-18). “J. B. Hunt’s Earnings Hit $131.1M in 3Q.” NADG (10-16-18). “…up from $100.4 million a year ago.”
OIL COMPANIES
Shea Wilson. “Murphy Oil’s Net Income Tops $45M in 2nd Quarter.” NADG (8-9-18). “The company produced 171,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day….” creating $618 million for the second quarter.
“Refinery Builder Aims to Sidestep Panel.” NADG (8-10-18).Meridian Energy planning a $800 million plant 3 miles from Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota seeks state dismissal of complaint by environmental groups.
BANKS
“Bank of America’s 3Q Profit Jumps 32%.” NADG (10-16-17). As “lower corporate tax rates helped it save hundreds of millions on taxes.”
“How Arkansas’ Congressional Delegation Voted.” NADG (10-7-18). “Aviation Programs….” Approved 93-6 HR302 “$90 billion for aviation programs” and other budgets, thumbs up by Boozman and Cotton.
MONOPOLY: Growth Through Mergers for Profit
AMAZON ACHIEVES $1 TRILLION IN EQUITY VALUE (up there with Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Google). “…the rapid ascent is a validation of the growth-at-all-costs ethos that has defined Bezos vision.” NADG (9-5-18).
“U.S. Clears $68B C VS-Aetna Tie-Up.” NADG (10-11-18). “…would create a giant with a hand in insurance, prescription-drug benefits, and drugstores across the United States.” The Justice Dept.’s antitrust division signed off on the deal, but “consumers could end up with far fewer options and higher expenses.”
“Tyson Moves Closer to Deal for Keystone.” NADG (10-17-18). “The all-cash acquisition expands Tyson’s domestic production and global reach into Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.”
In his Foreword, “Criminality,
Indeed,” to Unprecedented Crime by Peter Carter and
Elizabeth Woodworth, Dr. James Hansen writes:
Carter and Woodworth “make an overwhelming case that the public…are
victims of ‘Unprecedented Crime,’” “crimes against humanity,” particularly
against young people. The fossil fuel
companies invested enormous funds in developing and fully understanding those
fuels, then denying their harms, and then developing even more poisonous fuels
from tar sands and shale oil. The
officers knew the truth about CO2 early but not only did they not cease, they
increased production, to this day.
Similarly, the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette owner and managers knew the truth and to this day are
defending fossil fuels. But not totally;
they know a little conflict sells newspapers.
SO THE NEWSPAPER DID GIVE A FEW PARAGRAPHS TO THE URGENT REPORT BY THE Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). “Climate
Panel Sees Little Hope of Action.” NADG (10-8-18). Only a 4” column on a back page for the 728
pp. IPCC report calling for sharp reductions in emissions but seeing “little
chance of the needed adjustments happening.”
This report for the 6th Assessment reveals damning truths
about the fossil fuels industry, when the story should have covered page one
with screamer headlines. Instead, as it
has done since 1991 when the IPCC assessments began, the ADG dramatically underreported the latest IPCC studies and steadily
beat the drum for growth.
AND NOW TODAY 10-18 IT PRINTED GARY
KAHANAK’S LTE CALLING ATTENTION TO THIS IPCC REPORT (distributed online by
Charles Sisco of ArkCCL). http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/oct/13/nwa-letters/?opinion
“A Message of Danger” by Gary Kahanak, NADG (10-18-18)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) just released a report, and it’s stark. Keeping the planet at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times is barely possible, but will still cause suffering and death from climate disruption and weather extremes. The conclusion: Greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2020, then drop 50 percent by 2030, then achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
That’s a tight schedule, a big ask. Unprecedented international cooperation and infrastructure transformation are required. Physically possible, but not probable politically, says IPCC. This is a “Danger: Iceberg dead ahead!” message.
Eighty-five percent of the world’s energy still comes from burning fossil fuels. No longer may we be content knowing that we have done a little bit that helps. We have been given an evidence-based emissions target and a timeline for achieving it. We can set verifiable milestones of accomplishment.
Time is short. We must use every tool and technique at our disposal in the most effective manner. That includes nuclear power, which currently provides 76 percent of the clean, zero-emission electricity for Arkansas. Summing up the IPCC report: If the entire world gets its act together and pushes—hard—starting today, we might just miss hitting the metaphorical iceberg, and sustain only “tolerable” damage to our vessel. Or we can head down to the lounge for another cocktail and strike up the band, secure in our belief that no action is required, that all will be as it has ever been.
The choice is ours. This is our “Titanic” moment.
GARY KAHANAK
Fayetteville
PART TWO
CAPITALIST
ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF ENDLESS GROWTH
“The present capitalist model. . .is also a
model for planetary decline, possibly of a precipitous nature. The very definition of success—more
middle-class consumers, more car owners, more shoppers, which means more energy
used, more fossil fuels burned, more greenhouse gases entering the
atmosphere—is also, as it never would have been before, the definition of
failure. The greater the ‘success,’ the
more intense the droughts, the stronger the storms, the more extreme the
weather, the higher the rise in sea levels, the hotter the temperatures, the
greater the chaos in low-lying or tropical lands the more profound the failure.
. . .This process. . .gives a new meaning to Naomi Klein’s term ‘disaster
capitalism.’” Tom Engelhardt, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret
Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. 2014.
(94-95).
EXPAND!
Michael Yates. “Nothing to Lose But Their Chains.” Monthly
Review (October 2018). “To grasp Marx and Engels’s meaning, it is
necessary to understand just how radical capitalism is. Of great significance is the fact that it is
the first economic system in which there is an inherent growth imperative.” (p. 17). [This essay is an excellent 101 introduction
to capitalism from perspective of the independent socialist journal, MR.]
PART THREE
ALTERNATIVES,
RESISTANCE TO GROWTH 1972—
Academy for Systems Change
« A Different Vision of the Path To International Security Thirty
Years Later: the Idea of Limits to
Growth Is More Important Than Ever »
A Synopsis: Limits to
Growth: The 30-Year Update
By Donella Meadows, Jorgen
Randers, and Dennis Meadows.
The
following piece is a short synopsis of Limits
to Growth: The 30-Year Update.
The full
length book (2004) is available at Chelsea Green’s website.
The signs are everywhere around us:
Sea level
has risen 10–20 cm since 1900. Most non-polar glaciers are retreating, and the
extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice is decreasing in summer.
In 1998
more than 45 percent of the globe’s people had to live on incomes averaging $2
a day or less. Meanwhile, the richest one- fifth of the world’s population has
85 percent of the global GNP. And the gap between rich and poor is widening.
In 2002,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimated that 75 percent of
the world’s oceanic fisheries were fished at or beyond capacity. The North
Atlantic cod fishery, fished sustainably for hundreds of years, has collapsed,
and the species may have been pushed to biological extinction.
The first
global assessment of soil loss, based on studies of hundreds of experts, found
that 38 percent, or nearly 1.4 billion acres, of currently used agricultural
land has been degraded.
Fifty-four
nations experienced declines in per capita GDP for more than a decade during
the period 1990–2001.
These are
symptoms of a world in overshoot, where we are drawing on the world’s resources
faster than they can be restored, and we are releasing wastes and pollutants
faster than the Earth can absorb them or render them harmless. They are leading
us toward global environmental and economic collapse—but there may still be
time to address these problems and soften their impact.
We’ve
been warned before. More than 30 years ago, a book called The Limits to Growth created an international sensation. Commissioned
by the Club of Rome, an international
group of businessmen, states- men, and scientists, The Limits to Growth was compiled by a team of experts from the
U.S. and several foreign countries. Using system dynamics theory and a computer
model called “World3,” the book presented and analyzed 12 scenarios that showed
different possible patterns—and environmental outcomes—of world development
over two centuries from 1900 to 2100.
MORE http://donellameadows.org/archives/a-synopsis-limits-to-growth-the-30-year-update/
While the
past 30 years has shown some progress, including new technologies, new
institutions, and a new awareness of environmental problems, the authors are
far more pessimistic than they were in 1972. Humanity has squandered the
opportunity to correct our current course over the last 30 years, they
conclude, and much must change if the world is to avoid the serious
consequences of overshoot in the 21st century.
When The Limits to Growth was first published
in 1972, most economists, along with
many industrialists, politicians, and Third World advocates raised their voices
in outrage at the suggestion that population growth and material consumption
need to be reduced by deliberate means. Over the years, Limits was attacked by
many who didn’t understand or misrepresented its assertions, dismissing it as
Malthusian hyperbole. But nothing that has happened in the last 30 years has
invalidated the book’s warnings.
On the
contrary, as noted energy economist Matthew Simmons recently wrote, “The most
amazing aspect of the book is how accurate many of the basic trend
extrapolations … still are some 30 years later.” For example, the gap between
rich and poor has only grown wider in the past three decades. Thirty years ago,
it seemed unimaginable that humanity could expand its numbers and economy
enough to alter the Earth’s natural systems. But experience with the global
climate system and the stratospheric ozone layer have proved them wrong.
All the
environmental and economic problems discussed in Limits to Growth have been
treated at length before. There are hundreds of books on deforestation, global
climate change, dwindling oil supplies, and species extinction. Since The
Limits to Growth was first published 30 years ago, these problems have been the
focus of conferences, scientific research, and media scrutiny.
What makes Limits
to Growth: The 30-Year Update unique, however, is that it presents the
underlying economic structure that leads to these problems.
Moreover, Limits is a valuable reference and compilation of data. The authors
include 80 tables and graphs that give a comprehensive, coherent view of many
problems. The book will undoubtedly be used as a text in many courses at the
college level, as its two earlier versions have been. MORE
Is more economic growth the solution? Will it deliver
prosperity and well-being for a global population projected to reach nine
billion? In this explosive book, Tim
Jackson - a top sustainability adviser to the UK government - makes a
compelling case against continued
economic growth in developed nations.
No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. More urgently, it is now clear that the ecosystems that sustain our economies are collapsing under the impacts of rising consumption. Unless we can radically lower the environmental impact of economic activity - and there is no evidence to suggest that we can - we will have to devise a path to prosperity that does not rely on continued growth.
Economic heresy? Or an opportunity to improve the sources of well-being, creativity and lasting prosperity that lie outside the realm of the market? Tim Jackson provides a credible vision of how human society can flourish within the ecological limits of a finite planet. Fulfilling this vision is simply the most urgent task of our times.
This book is a substantially revised and updated version of Jackson's controversial study for the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the UK Government. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission's nine year history when it was launched earlier this year.
No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. More urgently, it is now clear that the ecosystems that sustain our economies are collapsing under the impacts of rising consumption. Unless we can radically lower the environmental impact of economic activity - and there is no evidence to suggest that we can - we will have to devise a path to prosperity that does not rely on continued growth.
Economic heresy? Or an opportunity to improve the sources of well-being, creativity and lasting prosperity that lie outside the realm of the market? Tim Jackson provides a credible vision of how human society can flourish within the ecological limits of a finite planet. Fulfilling this vision is simply the most urgent task of our times.
This book is a substantially revised and updated version of Jackson's controversial study for the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the UK Government. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission's nine year history when it was launched earlier this year.
Capitalism vs. the Climate
That
is the subtitle of Naomi Klein's book, This
Changes Everything. If you’re really short of time, read her Intro. where she
explains the CONTRACTION needed against the fierce, ceaseless drive to
EXPAND by our economic system. (See OMNI's Growth Newsletter #2: http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/07/growth-watch-2.html, and Capitalism, Newsletter #22: http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/04/us-capitalism-newsletter-22.html).
Klein divides her book into 3
parts: I. the barriers to life-saving, planet-saving climate action. II. All the false solutions (dinner with a green billionaire anyone?). III. Blockades. Because “our economic system and our
planetary system are at war,” become a climate warrior with Native Americans. Blockade everything that grows and expands and
are killing us. Join the global revolution.
ARKANSAS CLIMATE CHANGE LOBBY, CHAPTER OF FEE/DIVIDEND CAMPAIGN
|
OMNI CLIMAT E BOOK FORUM
Meets first Sundays of each month with a new book. This month Goodell’s The Water Will Come, next month Grant, Too Many People.
NO GROWTH
Johan Galtung. TRANSCEND Media Service, #519
A small but important signal from La Nucia…in Spain: no more permits to build new houses for some time. La Nucia wants to stop growing. 30,000 inhabitants in 2030 is the limit; with no limitation on restoration, beauty, art, well-being.
Johan Galtung. TRANSCEND Media Service, #519
A small but important signal from La Nucia…in Spain: no more permits to build new houses for some time. La Nucia wants to stop growing. 30,000 inhabitants in 2030 is the limit; with no limitation on restoration, beauty, art, well-being.
PART FOUR: CLOSELY RELATED
REVERSING POPULATION GROWTH
http://www.npg.org/library/books-by-lindsey-grant/too-many-people-the-case-for-reversing-growth.html
This book explores a fundamental but seldom asked question: has
the recent growth of human numbers and economic activity imperiled our
well-being, social justice and even the natural support systems on which we and
other creatures depend? Challenging a nearly universal enthusiasm for endless
growth, Grant makes the unassailable point that perpetual material growth on
Earth is a mathematical absurdity. Growth, moreover, is already an unrecognized
root of environmental and social problems, not simply a potential danger.
Grant summarizes
the evidence concerning food, water, land, climate change, the energy transition,
chemicals and pollution and their threat to living systems. He observes that
most people object to crowding — but without identifying the source. He
recognizes – indeed emphasizes — the limits of our knowledge, but he suggests,
in broad terms, what world population might be sustainable at a decent standard
of living. The numbers are something like those the world passed two or three
generations ago.
We are already at war with
the biosphere that supports us. More than any other proposed solution, a solution
on the demand side — population — offers an effective way to end or ameliorate
the problems I have described… and, remarkably enough, it will save money
rather than demanding more investments. (p.71).
MORE http://www.npg.org/library/books-by-lindsey-grant/too-many-people-the-case-for-reversing-growth.html
OMNI
Overpopulation Newsletters OMNI OVER-POPULATION, GROWTH, CONSUMPTION, WARMING,
CLIMATE CHANGE NEWSLETTER #11, June 10 , 2018. http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2018/06/omni-overpopulation-newsletter-11.html # 12 under construction .
PATRIARCHY
Maria Mies. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour. Zed Books, 1986.
Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. Edited by Zillah R. Eisenstein. 1978.
Patriarchy and Economic Development : Women's Positions at the End of the Twentieth Century. Edited by Valentine M. Moghadam. Clarendon Press, 1996.
Maria Mies. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour. Zed Books, 1986.
Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. Edited by Zillah R. Eisenstein. 1978.
Patriarchy and Economic Development : Women's Positions at the End of the Twentieth Century. Edited by Valentine M. Moghadam. Clarendon Press, 1996.
Outlawing War
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“Outlawing war? It actually worked”, an article by Oona Hathaway and Scott
Shapiro (NYT 5
Sep 2017) refers to the 1928 Kellogg-Briand
pact that
brought “an end to the right of conquest and changed the way states behave”
[growth, expansion]. The pact did not abolish war but tried to make it illegal…making
war for conquest a crime. Like slavery, like colonialism….”
OMNI
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ABOLITION NEWSLETTER #23, JANUARY 15, 2017.
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2018/01/omni-nuclear-weapons-abolition.html
#24 in preparation.
OMNI
ANTI-WAR,
ANTI-IMPERIALISM, PEACEMAKING NEWSLETTER
#5. December 19, 2016. http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/12/anti-war-newsletter-5.html
(#1 April 2, 2012; #2 Jan. 18, 2013;
#3 March 25, 2014; #4, January 25, 2015).
#6 in preparation.
GROWTH WATCH NEWLETTER #2
END GROWTH WATCH #3
