Good Morning all of you out-of-the-box thinkers out there; your King of Simple News is on the air.

Today, I’m posting the conclusion to my 7 part Show-Stopper series. Like Porky Pig said at the end the Warner Bros. Cartoons, “I believe that’s all folks.”

SHOW-STOPPERS

By Mike Folkerth © 2009

CONCLUSION:

The points that I have throughout the various Show-Stopper’s are all tied to one common denominator; exponential growth in a finite world is both physically and mathematically impossible.

The consumption necessary to sustain our current exponential growth-based economy, has since 1970, been largely supported by exponential debt accumulation. That debt is then continually driven higher by the inclusion of compounding interest.  

No amount of political and social manipulation produced by mortal man will change the above stated facts. Growth has natural limits and the laws of natural physics will prevail. As population rises above the optimum level, the per-capita share of wealth and resources are diminished resulting in a reduced standard of living. This diminishing share of the American pie will be disproportionately levied against Middle America.   

At the time of this writing, Japan is paying their non-native foreign workers to leave their country with the caveat that those who accept the payment will never again apply for work in Japan. Japan may well be the first industrialized nation that is forced to abandon the false foundation of exponential growth.  

Is there a way out that does not include returning to pre-industrial standards? The short answer is yes for the United States and Canada if we act prior to total resource depletion and unmanageable population levels. Many people, including myself, believe that human population in many parts of our world is already well above sustainable levels.

That being said, perhaps the only feasible path to a non-catastrophic future was best stated by the American Geophysicist, M. King Hubbert. While Dr. Hubbert is best remembered for his accurate predictions of peak oil, I believe that even more brilliance can be seen in his following statements.

“We are not in the position we were in 1929-30 with regard to the future. Then the physical system was ready to roll. This time it is not. We are in a crisis in the evolution of human society. It’s unique to both human and geologic history. It has never happened before and it can’t possibly happen again. You can only use oil once. You can only use metals once. Soon all the oil is going to be burned and all the metals mined and scattered.”

“We have the necessary technology. All we have to do is completely overhaul our culture and find an alternative to money. Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know.” [end quote].

I must be honest regarding my personal belief regarding the U.S. voluntarily returning to balance. We will not. We will pursue our failed growth model to the point of total collapse.

Only a catastrophic event of epic proportion will alter our long established pattern of electing our leadership from the social science sector who promise the physically impossible; for it is the impossible that we most crave.

Therefore, if I am correct, or perhaps more pertinent in this case, if mathematics are correct, personal choices will become your only defense against our continuing incompetent leadership.

When choosing a career field, do something useful with your life and do something beneficial for society. Perhaps a caveat to the former statement is in order; “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ― Steve Jobs

Live simple, live free, and live well.