<div dir="ltr">This is an outstanding critique, clear, well-written, and on-target. However, it does not address what I think to be the crucial political/economic question: Are his policy solutions achievable in a capitalist economy? My own answer: no. That said, would socialism be the alternative? Well, I assume Vietnam still considers itself "socialist"....what does that teach us? And China...the most hideous example of "socialism" combined with growth ideology. There are no positive role models on a national level anywhere in the world. My point is that most of those who speak and write as Speth do fail to deal with the politics involved. And unless they do, their proposals are essentially well-intentioned wishful thinking.<br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 10:32 AM, Chuck Searcy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chuckusvn@gmail.com" target="_blank">chuckusvn@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><font><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">This is slightly at the margins of the interests and mission of the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group, but since I circulated Dr. Vandana Shiva's article earlier and a number of people sent me positive comments, I'm passing along this essay by James Gustave Speth entitled </span><b>"</b></font>5 Reasons Why Prioritizing Growth Is Bad
Policy<font><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">."<br><br></span></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Speth quotes from a book by <span>historian J. R.
McNeill entitled </span><span>
<span><i>Something New Under the Sun</i> in which McNeill writes that t</span>he "growth fetish" solidified its hold on
imaginations and institutions in the twentieth century: <br><br>"Communism aspired
to become the universal creed of the twentieth century, but a more flexible and
seductive religion succeeded where communism failed: the quest for economic
growth. Capitalists, nationalists -- indeed almost everyone, communists
included -- worshiped at this same altar because economic growth disguised a
multitude of sins. ... Social, moral, and ecological ills were sustained in the
interest of economic growth; indeed, adherents to the faith proposed that only
more growth could resolve such ills. Economic growth became the indispensable
ideology of the state nearly everywhere."<br><br></span></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span>In his essay, Speth suggests some alternatives.<br><br>
</span></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><font><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">CHUCK</span></font><br>
</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span><br></div><div><div dir="ltr"><i><font size="1"><span style="color:rgb(153,0,0)">============================<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
CHUCK SEARCY<br>71 Tran Quoc Toan, Hanoi, Vietnam<br>Mobile: <a href="tel:%2B84%20%280%29%20903%20420%20769" value="+84903420769" target="_blank">+84 (0) 903 420 769</a><br>Email: <a href="mailto:chuckusvn@gmail.com" target="_blank">chuckusvn@gmail.com</a><br>
Skype: chucksearcy<br>============================</font></span></span><br>
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