The degrowth movement is gaining traction to such an extent that the EU, the world’s largest trading bloc with a 16.6 trillion US dollars GDP (2022), held the Beyond Growth conference on May 15-17 on how not to grow.
Degrowth ideology aims to reduce the consumption of finite resources and cut production and economic activity deemed harmful to the environment.
In other words, degrowth movements recommend impoverishing the population to save the planet.
A degrowth policy which shuts off the supply of affordable energy while simultaneously tightening monetary policy is a cocktail for a recession or depression.
So it is no surprise that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is officially in a recession.
An industrial nation needs a plentiful supply of affordable energy and anything which attacks that supply will lead to degrowth industrialisation. German industry needs natural gas and nuclear power to run their businesses.
“degrowth movements recommend impoverishing the population to save the planet”
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An energy-induced recession makes a successful degrowth policy
The degrowth movements fall into two camps;
The green left agenda wants to repent the sins; the economy is like the metaphoric virgin thrown into the volcano to abandon the sins committed.
The second type is the political class, the career politician with no practical experience in how an economy works, or financial markets, for that matter. So, sanctions on Russia underscore the above point, bearing in mind a year later, the Ruble is higher, and Germany is in a recession.
Moreover, escalating cost-driven inflation in energy and food (which core inflation does not measure) continues despite the Fed’s relentless tightening.
“The green left agenda wants to repent the sins; the economy is like the metaphoric virgin thrown into the volcano to abandon the sins committed”
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An ongoing war in Europe has disrupted energy and commodity food supplies, thereby increasing global prices.
The Fed’s tightening pricked the bubble of everything, including long-maturity treasuries, triggering a banking liquidity crisis, bank runs, and the second-worst bank crisis in US history.
China and India, tipped to be the world’s largest economies within a decade, have benefited from lower energy and grain prices.
So radicals and incompetents are driving degrowth decisions
One of the greatest exports from China to Europe is EVs, and Europe’s greatest export to China is combustion engine cars.
Europe is banning internal combustion engines, a policy which will destroy its export and increase its imports.
The supply chains for EVs are 80% dependent on China, and renewable energy sources require parts made in China.
“Infinite growth on finite resources is not only a myth but also ruthlessly oppressive by design” – speaker, Beyond Growth
If you think these degrowth policies are deliberate, you would be right
This recession, most likely depression, does not come as a surprise as it is part of the EU degrowth agenda.
Closing nuclear power plants, blowing up a major natural gas pipeline and implementing degrowth policies results in degrowth.
So the degrowth policies of Europe, a deliberate shooting itself in the foot, benefit other major economies, China, the US and India.
The EU’s Beyond Growth Conference makes it crystal clear that Europe is promoting degrowth policies under the guise of the green agenda.
They want you poor to save the planet
The EU held a conference in May about how not to grow. A speaker at the EU’s Beyond Growth conference gets a standing ovation;
“Infinite growth on finite resources is not only a myth but also ruthlessly oppressive by design.
We must acknowledge what lies below our growth, white supremacy, colonialism and imperialism.
White supremacy justifies a system of global exploitation and extraction.
Exploitation, extrasionism, and colonialism lay the foundation of the European economy, institutions, corporate values, supply chain deals, investment agreements and geopolitical structure of wealth accumulation.
There is no degrowth without decolonisation.
We need to take this conversation outside this room and make sure that for all the hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists demanding growth, there are thousands of us demanding degrowth,” said the Beyond Growth speaker.
“We need to redistribute wealth, cancel climate debt, implement a universal basic income, massively invest in loss and damage funds, degrowth the economy in high-income countries, increase public services, and reduce working time” – speaker, Beyond Growth
Degrowth in high-income countries creates a global homogenised pool of serfs who will own nothing and have no identity
“We need to redistribute wealth, cancel climate debt, implement a universal basic income, massively invest in loss and damage funds, degrowth the economy in high-income countries, increase public services, and reduce working time,” she added.
But Beyond growth is organised by the EU parliament. EU members make 100,000 euros a year, EU presidents make 400,000 euros, excluding all other perks. This is a very wealthy rich class promoting everyone else should be poor. The idea that those telling the public to live poor while they live high on the hog is more than beyond growth it is beyond a joke.
The Bank of England Governor recently told people to accept their poverty..
Without sustainable finance, there can be no sustainable growth. The population of wildlife declined by 69% over 50 years and the population doubled over the same period. Meanwhile, the earth lost one-third of its arable land and by as early as 2025 two thirds of the population could face water shortages, which will impact food production and prices.
Reading between the lines beyond growth is about population reduction. Darwinian laws have reduced wildlife. Around 150-200 plants and animals are going extinct due to climate change every day.
Far-left Marxist ideology for the greater good everyone needs to be poorer, except political elites, to save the planet and manage scarce resources. This is a type of neo-feudal society of serfs surviving on UBI and an elite class of Eurocrats and politicians.
This degrowth view proposes an overreaching state with a planned economy, few small businesses and a population at the mercy of the state for their survival. It is the roadmap to totalitarianism, and despotism, which has often led to murderous dictators.
Beyond growth; Laissez-faire, let people dream
Sound finance and a system which enables the price mechanism to function in a dynamic entrepreneurial environment resolves scarcity and fosters progress.
The degrowth movement is yet another difficult obstacle for investors to navigate.
How do we deal with the scarcity of resources in a way that does not snuff out business and investing?
Keep the degrowth movement on the radar, and how it evolves and impacts investment portfolios.
