Dear Editors,

Is it not grotesque that some of the biggest per capita consumers of global wealth in one of the world's richest nations are being encouraged by massive cuts in income tax to consume even more for the sake of generating growth in their sluggish economy? (Schröder puts tax cuts on the table, 30 June 2003)

And is it not even more grotesque that this measure is applauded as sensible economic policy by all main-stream economists?

Why is it not recognised for the insanity that it is? An insanity which, if it is not remedied, will lead to disaster on a scale to make those of the 20th Century pale into insignificance.

There is something fundamentally wrong with an economy that depends on perpetual growth and every increasing levels of material consumption. Apart from being detrimental to our spiritual well-being, it is also utterly unsustainable on a planet with limited resources and a finite carrying capacity. 

So long as resources last and Earth's carrying capacity takes the strain, we can continue on the course we are on for a little while longer, for another 10 or 20 years, or perhaps even longer, but sooner or later something will have to give. And when it does, we (or our children and grandchildren) are going to find ourselves in a situation which hardly bears thinking about.

Our collective economic behaviour is very similar to that of a drug addict (e.g. an alcoholic). We have to keep on increasing the dose (economic growth and consumption) in order to maintain our feeling of well-being and avoid a decent into economic stagnation or recession, but eventually, unless we can find a cure for our addiction soon, we are going to do irreparable damage to ourselves (and our planet), or die of an overdose.

The immediate problem, though, like that of many alcoholics, is that we are still in denial that we have a serious problem at all.

We have a problem - our growth-dependent economy - and unless we face up to it, it will be the end of this wonderful experiment of nature, known as human kind.