Deflate Everything
The cost of living is, in truth, inherently deflationary. In spite of this, we continue to push a 150-year old agenda to grow GDP at great cost to human and planetary wellbeing. With the accelerating revolution in technology, It’s time we embraced a different paradigm.
“Technology is deflationary, [and] we are entering into an age of deflation unlike any the world has ever seen.”
So writes Jeff Booth in his excellent book, The Price of Tomorrow.
“Our economic systems were built for a pre-technology era when labour and capital were inextricably linked — an era that counted on growth and inflation, where we made money from inefficiency. That era is over, but we keep on pretending that those economic systems still work.
We need to accept deflation and embrace the abundance it can bring. Otherwise, the same technology that has the power to bring abundance to us and our world will instead destroy it.”
Booth’s central point is that the cost of production — for nearly everything — invariably lowers with advancements in technology, science and operations, and that for many things human beings need, it should be approaching zero.
