PROSPERITY IS NOT INFINITE.

Graph from the blog EPF8.

Capitalist ideologues love to speak of free markets and all boats rising on the tide of capitalism. Even political moderates will listen to these claims and nod. And, from a statistical perspective, there is some truth to the claims. No argument there. Certainly other systems have done much worse.

I would take a moment to caution the more Ayn Randish among us. 

The enthusiasts for modern capitalism omit some factors in their assessment. In fact, their sin of omission is no different than the sin of omission committed historically by communists. In the real physical world, resources are finite.

Ideology has ignored reality all too often in human history. I would argue that this basic human flaw in our capacity for imagination and ingenuity is at the heart of many of the crises we face today in the developed world. 

The developed world lives on a wave of booming technology. And that booming technology. while minimizing the reliance on human labor, is sucking natural resources from the planet at record levels. Vast amounts of petrochemicals are required to build and run our tech devices. Metals needed to build tech devices are predicted to become the currency of future military conflicts because of their diminishing amounts.

This is happening in parallel with a sprawling human population, moving into metropolitan areas. These cities are increasingly stressed by congestion and the inefficiencies of old infrastructure. London is a great example. Once a model city of tradition and peaceful lifestyle, it is now plagued by rising crime and seismic development, fueled by foreign investment. Those foreign investors, in many cases, are trying to flee their own overpopulated and  resource-poor countries for a better life in London. 

Mass migration is the most obvious symptom of finite prosperity. If capitalism has been so universally beneficial to human beings, then why are millions pushing their way into developed countries? Has capitalism solved the issue of overpopulation and environmental deterioration? Are those issues solvable by capitalism?

I think not. 

While capitalism may well be the best system we currently have for distributing and developing resources, those resources are finite. There is just so much air in our phenomenally rare atmosphere. There is just so much water. An so on. 

Academics and other ideologues overlook the mundane consistently, unless it is too hard to ignore it, as historically in the form of gun barrels of a firing squad. When the pressure on human beings gets too great, due to scarcity or perceived inequity, ideologues seldom have easy answers to the fallout. They are often the first to be eliminated. 

It is my opinion that we are at the edge of an era of severe reckoning between ideologies and realities. The hypnosis of digital screens will not save us from mass violence. In fact, the people of the developed world are more vulnerable than dare they think.