This author is widely respected in energy circles and followed by many people with extensive training in energy related technologies. She clearly has a broad grasp, in addition to technical matters, as to the future with regard to the depletion of fossil fuels and increasing populations. However, she is so typical of trained scientists coming out of US universities: she has a huge blind spot with regard to the social-economic system of capitalism.
Education in the US from the cradle to the grave is heavily stamped with pro-capitalist indoctrination. It results in perspectives that resemble the phenomenon of "trained incapacity". Capitalism has had huge effects on the development of human societies and human beings. Who can deny this? So, why is this system almost totally ignored by these people when examining the major issues of today?
Clearly it is because those who benefit from the system, the One Percent, rule over this system, and the subsystem of education, and obsessively protect it from any serious examination. Then there are those who have adopted the more explicit ruling class thesis that "there is no alternative" to this system.
So, why have I posted the article? Primarily because I think that she provides an insight on another important factor that drives the capitalist imperative of grow or die. She raises the issue of debt which is currently plaguing many nations and individuals.
One issue is of concern is the connection between economic growth and debt. If an economy is growing..., it makes financial sense to borrow money, even if it is necessary to pay it back with interest. Borrowing makes it possible to “pre-spend” a little of the economic growth that will be available in the future. This relationship is especially important for governmental borrowing, but it also plays a role for private borrowing.The most powerful section of the ruling One Percent are the those who live off of their wealth by lending it out at interest (financiers). They are like parasites who feed off the productivity of working people who create wealth. As long as the host can continue growing wealth at least as fast as the parasites draw from this wealth, the host will survive. Because financiers live off this income, they are constantly striving to lend their wealth out regardless if there is any need for it or even if it is used for destructive purposes, even wars. They will cajole, force, bribe, and even threaten others to take loans. (Read, for example, the book entitled, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.) One primary way the system has put so many people in debt is by employers paying low wages and offering easy credit so that people can maintain normal lifestyles.
It is now becoming clear to many that the tendency for capitalism to drive economies to produce and consume at expanding rates will inevitably cause humanity to reach the twin barriers of over population and resource exhaustion. Notice that the author and commentators see no solutions to these contradictions except highly tragic ones. They simply cannot see that changing the system is an option that must be pursued.
