Friends,

This is a short blog. What is really wrong with the economy? Absolutely nothing. Yep... the reason people think something is wrong with the economy is because Americans use wrong measures (growth of various sorts, which usually just means how much people are consuming and throwing away and little else) to determine economic growth while ignoring numerous costs (deforestation, pollution, disease, broken families and communities, just to name a few).

Perhaps if we used real economic markers, we would discover that our economy is doing the best is has in 20 years right now... but sadly, very few like markers such as thrift, stewardship, reuse, contentment, making more with less, etc. as ways to measure the economy and our economic success as individuals or as a nation. And until we are willing and ready to use better economic markers, there will be little hope for real change and preservation of the planet, its resources, and its people.

I hope one day to make the above a whole chapter in a book, showing how 40 or 50 years ago Americans were sold on a new economy of cheap, disposable everything (think toothbrushes, pens, razor blades, just to name a few things!) as the foundation of good economics and growth. What it has brought us is riches for a few, pollution for all, disease for many, and poverty for most as the middle class disappears.

John