The Growth Illusion: How Economic Growth Has Enriched the Few, Impoverished the Many, and Endangered the Planet

The premise of this book is that economic growth has made life considerably worse for people in Britain since 1955 and that, even if growth were beneficial at one stage in human history, it is now damaging. The book presents evidence of social and environmental damage caused by growth and several reasons for a persistence of growth in the face of this damage. It is proposed that the real reason growth has not been stopped is that economic systems would collapse if it did. The book looks at the effects of a policy of growth before and after the 1950s, how growth has effected national health and damaged family and community life, and the effects of growth on the environment (see especially chapter 11: "Growth in the Greenhouse"). Included is an examination of how the need for growth forces companies to adopt new technologies before their impact on the environment can be assessed, how politicians are more concerned about maintaining conditions in which economic growth is possible than holding the world's climate unchanged, the myth of sustainable growth, and a lack of morality governing the direction of economic change. A solution is proposed that involves adjusting the capitalist system. (LZ)