“A financial system based on debt and lending at interest directly requires constant economic growth, but this cannot continue indefinitely.”
What about it? It is true that piles of goods cannot grow indefinitely and that we cannot do it without growth. Banks can live off service charges instead of interest (that’s where we are heading anyway), but an economy without growth means decline and misery. The next generation may not have to deal with it because the damage over the last thirty years is comparable to that after the war, but one day the limit of uselessness will be reached.
It would be natural and logical to devote fewer and fewer resources from a certain point onwards to expanding production and to concentrate more on leisure, a more enjoyable life, sports, reading, education, personal growth, relationships… My parents experienced that it was common to go to work on Saturdays, today we work five days a week, and as technology advances, working days could be four or even three…
In effect, this would mean less production and more services. But we have already seen the transition from production to services once before, and it ended in disaster. Instead of a better lifestyle came the rule of banks and non-profits. However, the time may well come when there will be nothing left but another attempt. Perhaps the West will have the advantage of China going through it before us, so that the experience there will be available. But it is already clear that it will not happen on its own, and that it will require a piece of social engineering as well as a piece of political leadership. But that is a long, long way off.