There is an essential difference between growth and development. Growth has a positive connotation - a forest grows, a child grows. But after a while we surely want our child to stop growing and instead developing. Not a quantitative growth, but an qualitative development.
The term growth is used and mentioned, as previously pointed out in the blog, practically in every major political or organizational instance worldwide as a operational goal.
Which solutions, what values are rewarded with growth as a motive in political desicions? Does it lead us where we want to go? Examples of unreflected references to growth in Sweden are plentiful; the Collage of Education expresses that it educates teachers for the sake of growth, the Swedish horse breed organization donates money for growth and the county council of Örebro is offering health care not for the sake of the health, but to promote growth!
One of many deeply problematic consequences coupled to continued economic growth is that required work declines when technological rationalizations improves production costs and time in manufacturing sectors generally. Problem is that this underlying trend forces overall production volymes to increase so as to secure job opportunities. Ironically, this is the logic behind all consumption-stimulating measures in the aftermaths of the financial crisis (raw material crisis?). It is also the same path towards the gap.
Alternative routes encompasses for example less than 40 labour hours per labour week, extraction and exchange of returns in productivity to free-time and sharing labour. For alternative routes we need brave, bold and engaged politicians that are more interested in the future of coming generations rather than misusage of authority and power. For alternative routes we also need a shift in values among ordinary citizens that can support real sustainable decisions.
