Beware the Left's 'Degrowth' Movement (i.e. why Covid-19 is Good)

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Seems some people are happy that Covid-19 is culling people and crashing global economies, because "Climate Change" is being reduced, although only fleetingly. 

Apparently more people (in industrialized nations) need to die in order to "Save The Planet" from us pesky humans.

The Climate Lemmings are taking over, and want more panicked lemmings to jump off a cliff for our own good.

Summary of the Far Left Lemmings:

-  Hydrocarbons bad, virus good

-  Virus cures Climate Change

 

Beware the Left's 'Degrowth' Movement

It would be natural to believe that nearly everyone on the planet is horrified by the death and economic destruction wrought from the COVID-19 pandemic. But some see the body bags and the shutdown of economic production as a weird kind of blessing in disguise.

These are the proponents of a radical and increasingly chic movement on the left called "degrowth." This is the idea that economic growth and increased prosperity are the root CAUSE of massive ecological destruction and health pandemics. The agenda is to shut down industrial production and industries like fossil fuels, automobiles and airline travel that contribute to global warming. COVID-19 and the economy lockdown are seen as a kind of test run for the theory.

For example, professor Natasha Chassagne of the University of Tasmania and a disciple of this movement gushes that "we can draw many lessons and opportunities from the current health crisis when tackling planetary warming."

A former high-ranking climate adviser to the Obama administration, Jason Bordoff, writes in Foreign Policy magazine that "COVID-19 may deliver some short-term climate benefits by curbing energy use, or even longer-term benefits if economic stimulus is linked to climate goals," but he adds almost regretfully that the "benefits" from the pandemic in terms of less carbon emissions are likely to be "fleeting and negligible."

Degrowth is defended by its proponents as "a political, economic and social movement based on ecological economics, anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism."

The official degrowth website explains that COVID-19 is "an example of why degrowth is needed; it shows the unsustainability and fragility of our current way of life. Additionally, the response to covid-19 has shown that degrowth is possible, because society [and the state] has demonstrated an ability to dramatically change the modus operandi in response to a major crisis."

The philosophy that increased prosperity is the problem and not the solution to our societal problems is not new. In the 1970s, many on the left embraced the "limits to growth" ideology of too many people, too little food and energy, and imminent ecological disaster. Those ideas were discredited over the ensuing 40 years as innovation and technology, plus a renewed appreciation of economic freedom, advanced rapid growth in living standards around the globe and massive surpluses of food and energy.  ...

 

... It is wrong on so many levels one hardly knows where to start. First, economic freedom and growth go hand in hand and have inarguably positive benefits to the poorest citizens of the world and to health and the environment. Nations that have degrowth are much more polluted and have much higher death rates than the United States.

Environmental protection is the ultimate "superior good." The richer a society becomes, the more they spend on clean air, clean water and nature preservation.

The degrowth fad -- hopefully it is just that -- also reveals the modern left movement for what it is at its core. It is anti-growth, anti-people, anti-free enterprise and anti-prosperity. The entire climate change movement is an assault against cheap and abundant energy and rising living standards. This raises the question of how we could ever rely on the left to fix our economy, help the poor and make us all more prosperous if their goal is to shrink the economy, not grow it?

 

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

1 hour ago, Tom Kirkman said:

The degrowth fad -- hopefully it is just that -- also reveals the modern left movement for what it is at its core. It is anti-growth, anti-people, anti-free enterprise and anti-prosperity. The entire climate change movement is an assault against cheap and abundant energy and rising living standards.

I have actually run into people like that.  They are living in some altered mental space,  there is no reality in the thinking process.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how they got into that mental space; it is totally surreal.  Now here's the scary part: at this point the majority on the Burlington (VT) City Council actually thinks that way!   I shudder for the taxpayers. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

10 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said:

I have actually run into people like that.  They are living in some altered mental space,  there is no reality in the thinking process.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how they got into that mental space; it is totally surreal.  Now here's the scary part: at this point the majority on the Burlington (VT) City Council actually thinks that way!   I shudder for the taxpayers. 

Agenda 21 family planning.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

And there's more to it than that.  I was reading this today:

Cash has been the target of the banking and financial elites for years. Now, the coronavirus pandemic is being used to frighten the masses into accepting a cashless society. That would mean the death of what’s left of our free society. CBS News, CNN, and other mainstream outlets are fearmongering again. Alarmism is nothing new in the media world, but this time, it’s not about triggering panic buying or even pushing a political agenda. The war on cash is about imposing a new meta-narrative. As economist Joseph Salerno explains, the cashless society forces all payments to be made through the financial system. It doesn’t end with monopoly control over transactions, though. Being bound to computers for transactions kicks the door wide open to hardcore surveillance of personal activity and location data. Being eternally on the grid means relentless taxation and negative interest rates, which the Federal Reserve is already gearing up for. None of this bothers the well-heeled boosters of a cashless society or their lackeys in the media. They want Americans reading about the threat of coronavirus cooties on their cash, which is absurd. Germs, of course, can loiter all over credit and debit cards, smartphones, ATMs, and every other cash alternative device. Too bad implanted microchip technology isn’t further along, the banksters must be thinking. In another CNN article, readers are practically shamed for withdrawing cash to save during a crisis. Every sentence, every word, every letter of the article is nuts. It begins by reassuring the reader that their bank account is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). There’s no mention of moral hazard from CNN. The fact that the federal government guarantees every bank account up to $250,000 encourages reckless financial and banking behavior. Not worth mentioning, CNN? Prior to the end of World War II, there were $500, $1,000, and $10,000 bills in wide circulation. This cash was dissolved by the Federal Reserve in the name of fighting organized crime. This same argument is now being made against $50 and $100 bills by Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff. In the Wall Street Journa , Rogoff also wrote that a cashless society would offer such benefits as “greater flexibility for the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy when necessary.” He wrote those words in 2017. And these too: “The Federal Reserve should be able to implement negative nominal interest rates vastly more effectively in the absence of large bills, which could prove quite important as a stimulative tool in the next financial crisis.” Prophetic. And indeed, negative interest rates would require the assistance of outlawing cash, so that banking customers don’t cheat by simply drawing out on their accounts. Pardon the pun, but it’s absolutely sick how COVID-19 is being used now as a launching pad for this cashless agenda. There’s nothing to fear about using cash during this time of social distancing. Wash your hands after handling cash, but don’t give up your moolah. Preserve your health, your privacy, and your liberty.

[rickygray + 2]

An honest movement would not need to coin "degrowth" but rather use an actual antonym of growth: decline, decay, regression, shrinking, withering.  Smart growth and resource conservation make sense, but this is a movement fit for stoned academics.

run 3

Edited August 4, 2020 by rickygray

[Eyes Wide Open + 3,539]

They used to known as the ZPG movement...lost a bunch of ground yrs ago and have melted into the socialist progressive movement..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_population_growth

[robert3 0]

I agree with this. The ZPG movement was recognized before ... a few years ago it lost its foundation and flooded into the socialist democratic movement. The Covid-19 translation was widespread.

   skribbl io

[impossible game 0]

Thank you Tom Kirkman, you have shown me a different perspective during this covid-19 pandemic!

the impossible game

[HermitMunster + 146]

I wonder what happened to Tom? He was a great poster. Hope he's doing alright.

[Boat + 1,315]

On 4/16/2020 at 4:11 AM, Tom Kirkman said:

Seems some people are happy that Covid-19 is culling people and crashing global economies, because "Climate Change" is being reduced, although only fleetingly. 

Apparently more people (in industrialized nations) need to die in order to "Save The Planet" from us pesky humans.

The Climate Lemmings are taking over, and want more panicked lemmings to jump off a cliff for our own good.

Summary of the Far Left Lemmings:

-  Hydrocarbons bad, virus good

-  Virus cures Climate Change

 

Beware the Left's 'Degrowth' Movement

It would be natural to believe that nearly everyone on the planet is horrified by the death and economic destruction wrought from the COVID-19 pandemic. But some see the body bags and the shutdown of economic production as a weird kind of blessing in disguise.

These are the proponents of a radical and increasingly chic movement on the left called "degrowth." This is the idea that economic growth and increased prosperity are the root CAUSE of massive ecological destruction and health pandemics. The agenda is to shut down industrial production and industries like fossil fuels, automobiles and airline travel that contribute to global warming. COVID-19 and the economy lockdown are seen as a kind of test run for the theory.

For example, professor Natasha Chassagne of the University of Tasmania and a disciple of this movement gushes that "we can draw many lessons and opportunities from the current health crisis when tackling planetary warming."

A former high-ranking climate adviser to the Obama administration, Jason Bordoff, writes in Foreign Policy magazine that "COVID-19 may deliver some short-term climate benefits by curbing energy use, or even longer-term benefits if economic stimulus is linked to climate goals," but he adds almost regretfully that the "benefits" from the pandemic in terms of less carbon emissions are likely to be "fleeting and negligible."

Degrowth is defended by its proponents as "a political, economic and social movement based on ecological economics, anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism."

The official degrowth website explains that COVID-19 is "an example of why degrowth is needed; it shows the unsustainability and fragility of our current way of life. Additionally, the response to covid-19 has shown that degrowth is possible, because society [and the state] has demonstrated an ability to dramatically change the modus operandi in response to a major crisis."

The philosophy that increased prosperity is the problem and not the solution to our societal problems is not new. In the 1970s, many on the left embraced the "limits to growth" ideology of too many people, too little food and energy, and imminent ecological disaster. Those ideas were discredited over the ensuing 40 years as innovation and technology, plus a renewed appreciation of economic freedom, advanced rapid growth in living standards around the globe and massive surpluses of food and energy.  ...

 

... It is wrong on so many levels one hardly knows where to start. First, economic freedom and growth go hand in hand and have inarguably positive benefits to the poorest citizens of the world and to health and the environment. Nations that have degrowth are much more polluted and have much higher death rates than the United States.

Environmental protection is the ultimate "superior good." The richer a society becomes, the more they spend on clean air, clean water and nature preservation.

The degrowth fad -- hopefully it is just that -- also reveals the modern left movement for what it is at its core. It is anti-growth, anti-people, anti-free enterprise and anti-prosperity. The entire climate change movement is an assault against cheap and abundant energy and rising living standards. This raises the question of how we could ever rely on the left to fix our economy, help the poor and make us all more prosperous if their goal is to shrink the economy, not grow it?

 

Isn’t it amusing to first blame the left and then do little to nothing to prevent 600,000+ deaths. Now we have round #2 the variant and those not vaccinated are the sick ones. Shouldn’t you rednecks welcome the label of the degrowth crowd? The freedom to lie and then die, you won’t get sick, it’s a leftist trick. 

[eddy1001 + 1]

lol beans I am very concerned about the post-covid situation, the risk of a US economic crisis as predicted by Mr. Ray Dalio

[Tom Nolan + 2,441]

9 hours ago, eddy1001 said:

lol beans I am very concerned about the post-covid situation, the risk of a US economic crisis as predicted by Mr. Ray Dalio

eddy, Thanks for a revisit to April 2020.

The Covid-19 response by Authoritarians with mandates, lockdowns, censorship of alternative information which opposed the official narrative, enforced vaccines by extortion, etc.

The same playbook is being applied with the Climate Change Agenda.

This is not about the health and welfare of the populace and the planet.  This is about CONTROL by the Authoritarians, a Technocracy as was covered in the free documentaries  "How and Why Big Oil Conquered the World" (which contain transcripts and sourced documents at CorbettReport.com    https://www.corbettreport.com/bigoil/    ).

Why Big Oil Conquered the World  - https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/why-big-oil-conquered-world/

How....  https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/big-oil-conquered-world/

 

[SUZNV + 1,197]

 

 

This is circulating around in vietnamese facebook ( I don't watch hollywood much).

Woke Religion reaches a new ridiculous level to have this:

1 The story is from 1812 Brothers Grimm German fairy tale, why should  they pick this story? Can't they find some Mediterranean story even if they want to educate people not to be racist? It is ridiculous for some Germanic king to name his  mixed daughter Snow White (assuming some reason he met and love a black female in the first place).

2 The magic mirror lies to its master, or have weird taste is the base of the whole problem, not about racist.  We shouldn't judge each other from the outside but what is the point of Beauty Contest/ Judgement  if there is no basis standard of beauty? Should we remove all of these beauty contest, along with liberal arts to save lots of CO2 emissions and the youth's student loan for a useless degree that have no basis standards. 

Consequence any totalitarian will use this to prove their points:

1 They will tell the public too much democracy will make people crazy, and their regime is the only light can save their citizen from this craziness.  

2 In private, they will say looks, these Western careered politicians applied our techniques to brainwash people via entertainment and media: replace logic/ common sense by  stirring public emotions,  repeating lies, pseudo science, opinions en mass to keep their powers. They are not different from us even they  pretends they are. 

Anti Western Regimes want to weaken the US to keep their regime. This is what they will do: organized populous group in both left and right, fill the groups and their supporters with hate to replace any logic/empathy/tolerant/ ethics. That is how Hitler and Communism regimes came to power in the first place so they understand how populism works. And careered politicians will utilize this to gather votes, it is after all their careers to win the votes. With the dividedness, US will be weaken economically and geopolitically and will leave them alone or made a bad show case for American democracy.

So if you vote with emotions hate/greed/fear/victimized instead of patriotism/empathy/tolerant/logic/believe/ love , you are part of the problems as the quality of voters will decide the quality of politicians. And the quality of careered politicians in Western Democracy in good time is very low as their voters are full of hate/greed/fear/victimized. No perfect human will lead no perfect politicians or perfect social structure, but at least we should make the best we can.

US has geopolitically traditional individualism to counter populism,  unlike Europe, Asia where people have to banned togethers under populous leaders and went to war/defense against their neighbors especially in recession time and thus cannot afford individualism.  Individualism is completely different from Feudalism, Capitalism Marxism, Socialism, Communism, Globalism as it is decentralized at individual level with good diversify religion(s) or moral believe that promote love/empathy no matter of there is a god or not/ god will intervene with your religion test or not. That is the believe that I appreciate, as an immigrant. This is in my opinion why people called US the Beacon of Freedom.

About my believe, I believe in karma,  causes and consequence, what goes around comes around, logic, regardless of there is a God or not. If there is an after life, then it will not be my current identity, my current memory, my current experience so I don't really care either. Empathy, Love, Forgiveness are the only things that separate me from a computer. I disagree with any believe that  lust /materialistic/hate is the meaning of life. And don't take freedom and convenient for granted. 

Any day I can be killed by a psychopath, a criminal, a police or a racist, why hate one or all of these groups will make any difference given that 90% of my fear will never come true or not as bad as I think it would be but it has no limit. 

I don't know where to post but I guess geopolitics is suite for this. US people are too busy to hate each other and that is the weakness that can be exploited by politicians or foreign manipulations from all sides. Do we need it? Should we go back to isolation mode like before ww2 and pay back all the debts so future generation can have their own choices? At the end of the day debt will limit  the freedom of choices.

Edited September 19, 2022 by SUZNV