Rachel Reeves and her Pursuit of Mystical Economic Growth
Voodoo economics is bad enough, but this voodoo economic growth…
Photo credit: Daniel Jensen on Unsplash
A short and concise history of a controversial idea
"Economic growth is the number one mission of this government"- Rachel Reeves
But, dear Chancellor,
What's the Narrative, What's the Philosophy, and what's the Story?
Growth for What and Growth for What Purpose?
‘Society is about human flourishing, not just economic growth.’
For Britain the Better we must have a different story and a more compassionate storytellers, not just some new number crunchers.
Dear Chancellor, lest you have forgotten
Britain’s broken economy: ‘That’s your bloody GDP, not ours’
The continuing frustration of the British people with voodoo economics of ‘markets knows best’ which has resulted in ‘Private Affluence and Public Squalor’ was once so beautifully summerised by a Newcastle woman’s tart response to the political scientist Anand Menon in 2016 when he warned that Brexit would hit GDP: “That’s your bloody GDP, not ours.”
Rachel Reeves speaking about her ‘Growth’ plans on 19 January 2025. Photo credit: Peter Cziborra/AFP/Getty Images/via The Guardian
Dear Chancellor,
I have listened to you praising your ‘growth’ strategy and the wonders that it will produce. I have read your words about it in the newspapers, and I have seen you on TV. But to my profound dismay, you have never engaged with us, the people, on the following questions and more:
How Much Is Enough? What is money and wealth for? Why do we as individuals and societies go on wanting and yearning for more? What is economic growth for? Can we/ should we carry on just growing, creating, producing, consuming,…,more and more, for ever more? Do we need to satisfy our wants or look after our needs? Should we be a “maximiser” or “satisfier” and choose the path of “enoughness”? Then, what is a good life? What are the main ingredients of a good, happy and peaceful life? Should we move away from Gross National Product (GDP) to Gross National Happiness?
In short, is the incessant quest for higher incomes, more and more profits at any cost, and faster growth robbing us of the good life rather than helping us to attain it? And, in the end, what adjustments in our moral and economic system would be needed to realise change?
Given the above, then, how can we trust you? How can we be reassured that you really know what you are talking about, or what you are doing?
Illustration: Chris Riddell on Rachel Reeves’ burnt offerings to the golden calf of growth/The Observer
ALL IN ALL, The model of more is failing both environmentally and socially, and practically everyone is still cheering it on… it almost makes you want to climb to the top of the highest building and shout, “ENOUGH!”
The Good Enough Life and the Virtue of Enoughness
Dear Chancellor,
Let us be frank and honest. First and foremost, right at the beginning, we must know: What is the spirit, ethics, philosophy, ideological and moral compass beyond your vague pursuit of “growth”. Whose growth are we talking about? Who are the winners and who are the losers? Is this so-called ‘growth’“ to serve people, or is it ultimately as many times before, just for profit, shareholders, CEOs, their returns and bonuses? Labour must never forget its pledge to the British people to rebuild trust in politics!
Your colleague, Clive Lewis MP, says it beautifully: ‘Reeves once championed the foundation economy – lifelong learning, public services, local industries and wealth redistribution. Whatever happened to that vision? Instead of pinning hopes on trickle-down promises from Heathrow and hedge funds, Labour should be levelling up wealth, not just GDP statistics.’
Lest we forget, when we talk about growth and more growth, haven't we heard all this folly before from another woman who lasted less than a lettuce?
Dear Chancellor: Was one Growth Crusader not Enough and are you also planning to crash the house of cards?
The Fall and Humiliation of Liz Truss should Herald a New Beginning
Photo credit: Carl Court / Getty Images via The Newstatesman
The Fallacy and the Myth of the Endless Economic Growth: Much Ado About Nothing!
The Time is Now to Bust and De-bunk the Myth that Perpetual Economic Growth is the Answer to all our Misery and Failure
‘Society is about human flourishing, not just economic growth.’
Growth for What and Growth for What Purpose.
In this age of crisis after crises, unfulfilled promises, the so-called ‘Age of Irresponsibility’, it seems right and appropriate to question the fallacy and the myth of endless growth.
‘Prioritizing growth is ultimately a losing game.’
Endless ‘growth’ is nothing but a game in the discredited global casino capitalism!
‘Growth is the be-all and end-all of mainstream economic and political thinking. Without a continually rising G.D.P., we’re told, we risk social instability, declining standards of living and pretty much any hope of progress. But what about the counterintuitive possibility that our current pursuit of growth, rabid as it is and causing such great ecological harm, might be incurring more costs than gains?’-This Pioneering Economist Says Our Obsession With Growth Must End, Herman Daly in conversation with David Marchese, The New York Times Magazine, 17 July, 2022.
Photo credit: Beachy Head England – suicide capital of Europe/ via FreeImages
On the Cliff Edge: The Endless Economic Growth- The Suicidal Heart of Neoliberal Economics
“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”-Greta Thunberg
‘Anyone who thinks that economic growth can continue for ever on a finite planet is either a madman or an economist.’- Kenneth Boulding
Dear Chancellor,
Believe me, I cannot believe it myself, that I am writing this, but it must be said. Alongside millions of voters, I, too, wanted to believe that, after 14 years of misrule, environmental vandalism, huge increases in poverty, injustice and more, it might have seemed inconceivable for the Labour Party not to tell us a new, and truthful story and encourage us to believe again that a better future is possible. Sadly this has not happened and we are not hearing the new story we were promised. Dreams and hopes are being shattered again. To say this breaks my heart.
I am now very concerned, extremely worried about our country. Things are going pear-shaped again. Hence, my wish to engage with you, our honourable chancellor.
Dear Chancellor,
So far we have only seen growth in violence, knife crimes, shoplifting, obnoxious riches for the few, poverty, misery, and marginalisation for the many, gambling addiction, prison population, the A&E queues and hospital waiting times, mental and physical illness, environmental degradation, and the sewage discharges by the privatised water companies, accompanied by the growth in ‘juicy’ bonuses for their CEOs and shareholders, plus hefty increases in water bills and payments, to name but a few. Moreover, what kind of ‘growth’ is this, when you approve building many new, fancy prisons, but cancel the building of new hospitals that were promised to the nation already.
I am sure these are not the ‘Growths’ you have been thinking and dreaming about during all those painful years in opposition, wondering and planning for ‘change and growth’, your ‘number one mission’!
Dear Chancellor,
I am a retired academic, having taught economics for decades.I have never had any agenda, except, seeking the truth and taking action in the interest of the common good.
If I may, I wish to warn you about your number one vision, your growth plans. Believe me, your agenda is nothing but an index of misery, for yourself, as you will fail like those before you and more importantly, you will fail us, as we have been failed by others like you many times before. This is why, I am most humbly asking you to think again and change direction in the interest of the common good, whilst you can.
My calling to you is in the interest of our country. In my mind, what you are doing in the name of maximising growth, which I call the mad rush to madness, is going to be very costly and tragic to our country. It must not be forgotten that people voted for you in the hope that you will turn the country for the better, kinder and fairer, after 14 years of cruelty and injustice under the Tories. But you are not any different to them. See what you did to the senior citizens’ winter heating allowance, followed by what you did to the women who had lost pension payments, amongst other misguided things you have done.
Dear Chancellor, believe me, Nigel Farage is counting on you to fail. He is counting on you to break all your given promises to the British people, by trashing all your values. He humiliated and defeated the Tories at the Brexit Referendum and he is now hoping to do the same to you. Please don’t let us down!
Party central: inside the Mayfair club where Reform plotted to take on ‘the establishment’
Reform UK can win scores of Labour seats in England and Wales, says study
“I would like to see a British version of Trump”; “I could sit here and have a conversation with him and listen to him and believe him. Whereas our politicians, I don’t trust them one bit.”
Think Trumpism couldn’t take root and flourish in Britain? Think again
You know, people are not dumb anymore. Tories failed them. You are failing them. Just like the Democrats who failed the people of America and paved the way for the rise of populism and Trump, you too, are now paving the way for Nigel Farage to become our next prime minister. This is unforgivable.
Given the above, now please watch this video to see very clearly how the false and cheating Democrats in the US, so tragically paved the path to the rise of populism and Trump. It would be tragic if the Labour Party does the same for Farage.
Democracy doesn’t exist in the United States: Chris Hedges
‘Economic growth is supposed to deliver prosperity. Higher incomes should mean better choices, richer lives, and an improved quality of life for us all. That at least is the conventional wisdom. But things haven’t always turned out that way.’
Dear Chancellor, in the wise words of Tim Jackson, Economics Commissioner, Sustainable Development Commission, writing in March 2009, I wish to remind you that:
‘Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth…The myth of growth has failed us. It has failed the two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It has failed, spectacularly, in its own terms, to provide economic stability and secure people’s livelihoods…Prosperity for the few founded on ecological destruction and persistent social injustice is no foundation for a civilised society. Economic recovery is vital. Protecting people’s jobs – and creating new ones – is absolutely essential. But we also stand in urgent need of a renewed sense of shared prosperity. A commitment to fairness and flourishing in a finite world…For at the end of the day, prosperity goes beyond material pleasures. It transcends material concerns. It resides in the quality of our lives and in the health and happiness of our families. It is present in the strength of our relationships and our trust in the community. It is evidenced by our satisfaction at work and our sense of shared meaning and purpose. It hangs on our potential to participate fully in the life of society… Prosperity consists in our ability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological limits of a finite planet. The challenge for our society is to create the conditions under which this is possible. It is the most urgent task of our times.’- Prosperity without growth? The transition to a sustainable economy
Before I proceed further, when it comes to your obsession with economic growth, I wish to draw your attention to some timeless words of wisdom:
“…We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor national achievement by the Gross National Product. For the Gross National Product includes air pollution, and ambulances to clear our highways from carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. The Gross National Product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads…. It includes… the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.
“And if the Gross National Product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials… the Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile….”-The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Robert F. Kennedy
‘What economists around the world get wrong about the future.
The idea that economic growth can continue forever on a finite planet is the unifying faith of industrial civilization. That it is nonsensical in the extreme, a deluded fantasy, doesn’t appear to bother us. We hear the holy truth in the decrees of elected officials, in the laments of economists about flagging GDP, in the authoritative pages of opinion, in the whirligig of advertising, at the World Bank and on Wall Street, in the prospectuses of globe-spanning corporations and in the halls of the smallest small-town chambers of commerce. Growth is sacrosanct. Growth will bring jobs and income, which allow us entry into the state of grace known as affluence, which permits us to consume more, providing more jobs for more people producing more goods and services so that the all-mighty economy can continue to grow. “Growth is our idol, our golden calf,” Herman Daly, an economist known for his anti-growth heresies, told me recently…’-The Fallacy of Endless Economic Growth
The Case for Degrowth: It is urgent, necessary, and greatly needed for our survival
Post-growth: the science of wellbeing within planetary boundaries
And lest we forget, this mad rush for growth is indeed a very old and discredited story which has been tried many times before. It was called ‘trickle-down economics’, and we learned a long time ago that it is a myth, a biggest lie.
Photo: miamiautonomyandsolidarity
Moreover, this rush for ‘growth’ was rigorously pursued as recently as by Joe Biden's administration.
‘Joe Biden’s Democrats achieved GDP growth but still struggled against Trump’s populism. Why? Because growth, when concentrated in the hands of the few, does not translate into security or prosperity for the many. Starmer understood this implicitly when he stated back in 2022 that trickle-down economics “is a piss take”.
'Reeves once championed the foundation economy – lifelong learning, public services, local industries and wealth redistribution. Whatever happened to that vision? Instead of pinning hopes on trickle-down promises from Heathrow and hedge funds, Labour should be levelling up wealth, not just GDP statistics.’- Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South
The Curse and the Folly and the Lies of Growth that is not going Anywhere
Photo credit via Wake up world
The World’s Mad Obsession With Unlimited Economic Growth
The madness of the never ending economic growth
We have to look beyond the madness: we should invest in everyday services to create a society run for collective good
The Growth Delusion and Confusion, The GDP Measurement: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
Economic Growth: The Index of Misery
Economic growth: a short history of a controversial idea
The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Robert F. Kennedy
The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Herman Daly
The Fallacy of Economic Growth: In Praise of Vandana Shiva
People’s Tragedy: Neoliberal Legacy of Thatcher and Reagan
The Destruction of our World and the lies of Milton Friedman
These are what I have learned from 45 years of teaching economics
Labour’s plan for ‘growth’ won’t take off, but it will leave ordinary people behind
Look at Labour’s acts of environmental vandalism and ask: did I vote for this?
‘The UK must move away from a debt-driven, low-wage, financialised economic model. Public investment in infrastructure – especially in underserved regions – and in skills and industry is needed to stimulate demand and create high-quality jobs. Raising wages and reducing inequality will ensure broad-based prosperity, not just asset bubbles. The belief that “markets know best” has prevented bold action on Britain’s yawning economic divides and the climate emergency. After 40 years of weakening the state and rewarding rentier capitalism, reform is urgent. Labour must build a system that delivers it.’-‘That’s your bloody GDP, not ours’
Dear Chancellor,
To my mind, survival will mean an urgent transformation of the ways we think, organise, produce and consume. That means a society that knows when to slow down and stop its relentless expansion of production and consumption, a society that knows the difference between plunder and endless extraction of natural resources or being their custodians. A society that knows the difference between justice, fairness, kindness and injustice and cruelty. A society that knows what it means to be human, a society that knows it is a privilege to look after the sick, weak, and the vulenarble. A society that does not dance to the tunes of the rich, the barons, the lobbyists and suchlike.
And thus, in place of economic growth it would value sufficiency, sustainability, fairness, justice, kindness, and beauty, where prosperity, health and wellbeing can be enjoyed by all.
Dear Chancellor,
Having said all these, I sincerely wish you success. Our country cannot afford another failure, another dishonesty and crash.
However, as a valued-led and spiritual economist, I am worried that, given your economic education, you may not have the true vision needed to turn our country around and make it better.
You know, I am so worried, when I discovered that similar to our recent past leaders, who went on and destroyed everything good in our country, you, too, received, to my mind, a questionable economic education.
They, like you, got their training studying PPE at Oxford. You also carried on to LSE, where the late Queen Elizabeth once asked its luminaries where they were, not seeing the coming of the 2008 financial crisis!!
What are the benefits of the supposedly prestigious, high-value, inspiring teaching and learning environment when they keep churning up people with questionable values, characters with no vision, low moral compass and no work ethics?
Do you remember these guys, the architects of destruction, pain, and misery?
Composite: PA/EPA/Getty/via the Guardian
So, dear Chancellor,
I hope you have got the gist of my message. Hoping for your success, the time is now to relearn your economics. To assist you in this noble exercise, I just you to have a read of these pieces, which I firmly believe will prove life changing for the better:
The Theft of the Century by the Most 'Educated Thieves'- All with MBAs and PhDs!
Nothing short of a sea change in education and teaching values can save the world
Wisdom and the Well-Rounded Life: What Is a University?
Britain Has Become a Sinking Ship of Systemic Corruption, Cronyism and Chumocracy
REMAKING ECONOMICS
Neoliberal Economics: A house of ill repute, Built on a shifting sand.
These are what I have learned from 45 years of teaching economics
Make Economics ‘Kind’ and Build a Better World
Make Economics 'People's Economics' and Build a Better World
Make Economics ‘A Thing of Beauty’ and Build a Better World
Small is Beautiful: The Wisdom of E.F. Schumacher
Finally, dear Chancellor, I hope that, having read the above, you will be so inspired that you will begging to reimagine a different world:
“Before we can build the world we want to live in, we have to imagine it.”
Can we forge a society built on shared values, one that respects difference? Can we build a State that cares, not purely in a macroeconomic context, but at a personal and individual one? Can we find space for kindness against a backdrop of complexity and cost, where we have allowed compassion to be viewed as a luxury for the charitable rich? Can we nudge people to behave altruistically? Can we build a view of society that is built not from the extremes, not from saints and sinners, but through the everyday kindness of action, by state, by organisation, by individual? Can greed be transformed into generosity, selfishness to selflessness, hatred to kindness,...,? Can we alter policies and practices to make the world a kinder place?
Moreover, can we come together and in the interest of the common good, begin to imagine a different world, a kinder world?
Imagining the World We Want
Imagine a political system that puts the public first. Imagine the economy and markets serving people rather than the other way round. Imagine us placing values of kindness, respect, fairness, interdependence, and mutuality at the heart of our economy. Imagine an economy that gives everyone their fair share, at least an appropriate living wage, and no zero-hour contracts. Imagine where jobs are accessible and fulfilling, producing useful things rather than games of speculation and casino capitalism. Imagine where wages support lives rather than an ever expanding chasm between the top 1% and the rest. Imagine a society capable of supporting everyone’s needs, and which says no to greed. Imagine unrestricted access to an excellent education, healthcare, housing and social services. Imagine hunger being eliminated, no more food banks and soup kitchens. Imagine each person having a place he/she can call home. Imagine all senior citizens living a dignified and secure life. Imagine all the youth leading their lives with ever-present hope for a better world. Imagine a planet protected from the threat of climate change now and for the generations to come. Imagine no more wars, but dialogue, conversation and non-violent resolution of conflicts. Imagine a world free of corruption!
This is the country and the world I wish to see and I believe we have the means to build it, if we take action in the interest of kindness for the common good.
With all my kind regards and best wishes in your attempts to restore trust and sanity to politics and economics and thus, to build a better Britain.
Kamran Mofid
PS: I do hope that the beautiful, timeless and inspiring words below, by Joy Harjo resonates with you as much as it has with me:
“Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is….
Remember the earth whose skin you are”