In this week's Off The Cuff podcast, Chris discusses:
- So Then What?
- The cost of growth may be much higher than we truly want
- The Exponential Model Can't Work Forever
- Simple math, but wishful thinking ignores it
- Data, Debt & Demographics
- The really big trends all point to growing scarcity
- Spend Less & Spend Local
- Smart frugality is the path of the future
This week Chris explores: What will happen if those cheering for higher economic growth indeed get what they want? Will things really be better off?
Simply put: No.
Let's play along though with the Wall Street Journal. Let's play along. Let's play a little game, shall we? I like to call it So Then What?. It goes like this:
So let's imagine that holiday shoppers, they do go bonkers, absolutely bonkers. Everybody in the banking sector becomes really, really happy because the Federal Reserve means they get to say, "Oh, look, validation for our policies". And bankers love it because it means shoppers will have spent more than they should or possibly could, meaning that they have to go into debt even more deeply. And we know that people, if they really do engage on average in robust holiday shopping, they will be dipping into savings and/or going deeper into debt. Why? Because most people are living paycheck to paycheck. And not just a little bit most, but well over 50 percent of families are paycheck to paycheck. So if they go bonkers, it means they're borrowing
by cmartenson 
