Our Failed Economic System is Killing Us

You can’t write about saving the world from climate change or environmental issues without recognizing the monster in the room. It’s money, or rather the economic system that enables this invisible hand to do all kinds of “bad things.”

Our current system is based on Keynesian economics, a system that works well on paper but gets corrupted when you put people into it.

Keynesian economics bears the name of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, and his theory is geared toward manipulating macroeconomic trends.

It’s what our Federal Reserve does when there is a recession, it influences the macroeconomic trends by making credit more available (i.e printing money).

On the surface, this system makes sense if you implement it correctly. In times of surplus (where we make more money than we spend) you’re supposed to save that money for the lean times. When a recession hits then the government can take the surplus and spend it on projects to stimulate economic growth.

Then when everything is growing again, you take the surplus money and save it again.

That sounds like a wonderful and smart idea! Spend your savings in the bad times to tide you over and then save your excess in good times.

Except for our asshole politicians don’t do that. They whittle every damn surplus down to spend on bullshit. In the good times, they spend instead of saving.

Then when the recession comes, they have no savings. So what do they do? They ask the Federal Reserve to do something to save the economy so they can be re-elected again.

The Federal Reserve says, “yes, let’s get you the money to spend” and start printing money. All those extra dollars circulating in the economy start driving prices up and we’re stuck with inflation.

Sometimes the inflation remains tame, the Federal Reserve’s target is around 2%, which coincides with the typical raises people get.

Now, after years of massive quantitative easing (kicking the inflation can down the road) we’re seeing a sleeping dragon wake up. We’re seeing massive inflation rear its head.

Watch out!

I know people who are paying $8 dollars for a dozen eggs. I bought 8 cans of local craft beer and spent $37 dollars the other night. They now come in packs of 4, not 6, all thanks to shrinkflation.

On top of that, companies are laying off people. We’re not sure exactly what’s happening but some companies are tired of giving their slaves perks and high salaries.

People are facing high prices for basic food items, high prices for rent and housing, layoffs, politicians taking away safety nets, and a general feeling of dystopia.

It’s a small wonder we haven’t rioted yet.

The current implementation of our economic system is broken. It’s flawed and it’s killing us.