(Warning, this might get long...)
Early on we were a hunting and gathering people. Population was limited by the available food, and most of daily life centered around staying fed.
Then the agricultural revolution came along. We realized we could spend less energy and less time if we took control of our food and grew it in an organized fashion. So what happened? We spent less time hunting and gathering, and had more time and energy for other things. Ancient agrarian cultures gave us art, architecture, philosophy, science--all kinds of new and great thinking. Okay, I'll admit, it also brought about slavery, since the more people you had farming, the more people you could support.
But there was also some natural limiting factors. We could only keep so much surplus. Some of the extra was traded off, but it isn't like farming spiralled out of control, per se.
Then the industrial revolution came along. But this time, it wasn't "hey, we can spend less time making stuff and more time thinking and expanding our consciousness," but rather, "hey, we can have more stuff!" Now everyone can have cars, and all kinds of fun things. We invented new and innovative forms of advertising. The more people wanted stuff, the more stuff we could make, which made it more affordable for people to have more stuff.
Then there was the credit revolution. Now we could buy even more stuff. Even if we couldn't afford it. Now we could "keep up with the Joneses." Now we could accumulate debt in style. We came up with new and innovative ways to buy things beyond our means.
Further technological advances made it cheaper to make disposable things than to repair things. After all, manufacturing is cheap. Repairs are labor intensive, and time is money, after all. Oh, and repairs take skills. Manufacturing just takes automation--or outsourced labor. Besides, the more we can make stuff cheaper, the more stuff we can all have.
There was a time when ninety percent of the economy was farming. Now that's quite a bit smaller, and about seventy percent of the economy is "consumer spending."
In other words, consumption. Nearly three quarters of our time and energy are centered around using things up. Maybe that's an oversimplification. Or maybe it's just a truth people don't want to admit to themselves.
The economy is down because people are spending less--consuming less. Our priorities have gotten so out of whack that consuming less has become a national crisis. Ah, but the solution is easy, right? Get people to spend/consume more. That fixes the economy.
There are government incentives going on to encourage you to throw your car away to buy a new one. But the VIN of your old car has to get recorded to make sure it comes off the market for good. Somehow buying used is bad. Repairing is bad. Disposable has become the solution.
Maybe we don't need to "stimulate" the economy. Maybe we need to take it apart and fix it. Maybe we need to heal it. Maybe we need to heal ourselves.
Maybe the consumption itself, rather than insufficient consumption, is the problem. Maybe we don't need new cars. Maybe we don't need McMansions, and ginormous flat screen plasma TVs. Maybe we don't need hundred million dollar summer blockbusters to watch for a couple hours and then mostly forget. Maybe we don't need everything in our lives to be disposable stuff made in other countries with materials we don't know about. Maybe we don't have to devote our lives to working too hard to pay off the debt from all this disposable crap stuff.
Maybe, instead, it's time to rethink it all. Maybe we need to start valuing ideals and ideas again. Maybe it's time to start valuing art, and thinking, and ideas, and creativity--you know, things that originate in minds and imaginations rather than things that originate in foreign sweatshops and only exist to get used up and then disposed of. Maybe we should start seeing the real value in artisans, and writers, and debate. Maybe we should consider that what our teachers do is of tremendous value. Maybe we should consider that parents staying at home to raise children in a loving home aren't "sacrificing their careers"--that they're doing something far beyond anything we can put a price on.
Maybe we should be distracting our children less and encouraging them more. Maybe we should be sheltering and sanitizing them less and helping them grow strong and independent instead. Maybe we should be worrying less about that they can memorize and instead marvelling at what they can understand.
Maybe our children don't need every little disposable synthetic gadget or mindless TV to distract them and keep them out of our way when they could be doing things to nurture their growth so they can become poeple truly living life and "in" the world. Maybe we don't need to be distracting ourselves with instant gratification when we could be creating--creating lasting gratification and building a future instead of just making a mess and hoping our kids will clean it up when their older. How are they supposed to do that if they don't even have an example to follow.
Oh, but if people don't spend and consume, that'll just drag the economy down more, and that hurts jobs, right? Then more and more people would be having to either settle for lower-paying jobs that don't support their consumeristic lifestyle or they'll have to get education to switch careers.
Maybe if our lifestyles weren't driven by consumption then we wouldn't have to chase each other's carrots up corporate ladders. Maybe if we weren't focused on crap stuff we could focus on what was important. Maybe the solutions are not about spending more, or borrowing more, or banks lending more. Maybe that's actually the problem, instead. Maybe we should only buy what we can afford. I know, revolutionary concept, I guess. Radical, isn't it? If we can't afford a down payment, then maybe renting makes sense. Maybe buying used cars works just as well. Maybe other forms of transporation are better. Maybe if we worked a little more locally. Maybe two hours a day commuting could be invested, rather than just spend. We even let our time be used up--consumed. Or maybe time really is money. I really hope not.