Kalistani Major History

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Kalistani and and Lodamese Theorists meet in Kaliburg to discuss De-Growth strategies
Joint conference aims at countering Liberal Growth fallacy and "Invisible Hand" magical Thinking that simply benefits the privileged
Kaliburg, Ananto
January 8, 5321


Panel at the Growth Summit, held at Kaliburg Polytechnic Institute, Kaliburg

Kalistan has practiced one form of Zero Growth economics or another for centuries. Lodamun is joining the movement by promoting de-growth strategies for sustainability. Leading economists from both nations have convened in Kaliburg to hold what is likely to be the first of many conferences on national economic strategies that de-emphasis the Liberal ideology of perpetual growth. As Dr. Lewis MacDonald, Economics professor and Chair of the President's Economic Forum explained in his opening speech, "Nothing in nature grows forever. We don't see trees that are tens of thousands of years old and 95,000 feet high. Something you actually do not want to grow forever. Take a human: If he or she continues to expand, eventually that will begin affecting various aspects of that person's health. The person should instead seek a golden mean, where they live well and do not deny themselves things they enjoy, but do not begin hurting their lifestyle with self induced problems like diabetes, morbid obesity, heart failure, breathing issues and etc. Like things in nature, an economy cannot and should not grow forever. The idea that it can and therefore it should is a myth of liberalism that tends to protect the misallocation of resources, by holding off the promise of redistribution to tomorrow, when the economy might be big enough finally to accommodate all of us. When they know it never will."

The Conference included Kalistani and Lodamese economists, who are leading the way in Northern Seleya in toning down the move toward perpetual growth. While Kalistan focuses on limiting growth to zero percent, controlling for any population increase, and performs this through capital controls, Nationalization and national service, and encouraging spending in the economy, rather than saving and investing, Lodamun takes a slightly different approach. "Lodamese theorists and economists see corporate greed as a roadblock to sustainable growth. While it is impossible to impose a minimalist life on the population, it is possible to cut waste down entirely by funding greener and more efficient alternatives, coupled with a limited profit mindset, a mindset searching as few profits as possible, though maintaining economic viability." explained Dr. Gotham Bell, from Lodamun. To accomplish his nation's goals, Lodamun restricts foreign investments and corporate activity, with a long term beneficial trade and loan systems in place to prepare the economy for a redefinition. "At this point," continued Ball, "the nation should achieve some level of autarky. A short answer is agricultural Independence, resource independence, stable trade routes for vital goods, reduced market vulnerability through reduced usage of foreign currency reserves." The goal is self-sufficiency aimed at ensuring that Lodamun produces what it needs and no more.

Panel presentations were given by several leading economists, who discussed the challenges of these two related ideas of zero growth and de-growth in a world that uses economic growth as the yardstick for economic success. "We do not look at the economy as being somehow separate from the society that lives with it," said Marcia Downes, from Kalistan. "Instead, the economy is and should be a tool of the society itself- It should be what the society uses to provide itself the best life possible. With growth as a strategy, we consider medical services to treat sick people to be positive growth. We treat funeral services to bury people as positive growth. We treat legal services to help a family break up in divorce to be positive growth. The Liberal economy focused un unrelenting growth treats a sick society as positive for growth. We also know that most of that 'growth' goes exclusively to the people on top. Liberals SAY it will trickle down. But we know that to be a failure in imagination: because a rich person can only buy just so many boats, just so many houses, just so many automobiles. Eventually they begin needing to store their horded wealth and none of that makes its way into the hands of the worker. So, if any of it actually trickles down, it merely trickles down to the very few. And the bottom of the pyramid in a Liberal society we find to be a desert."

Panelists offered a different way to evaluate a society; "What if we asked instead if people have what they need to live a good and stable life," asked Lodamese Professor Phillip Thalman. "What if we measured success in an economic model as everyone being fed, everyone being treated, everyone who wants to work having a job, everyone who wants to make art or get educated or change jobs being able to do that without having to starve? What if we treated our society as if the benefit for some is really only just the benefit for some and stopped measuring how we are doing as a whole by how that tiny fraction is doing? It is possible, but only if we abandon the notion of perpetual growth as an economic strategy, and started looking toward sustainability, not only for our own countries, but for doing our part in the world."

Kalistani theorist Michelle Fredrickson added, "We don't see trade as bad. We see trade deficits or surpluses as bad. We don't see investment as bad, we see wealth extraction and neo-imperialism as bad. We don't even, in the socialist utopia of Kalistan, such as it is, we don't even see profits as bad. We see profiteering as bad. There is no reason why a person who provides something that someone else values should not earn enough to live happily. We just don't think that a person or company who monopolizes access to necessary items like food, housing, and medical care, should be able to deny those things to people who need them but can't possibly afford to pay. So what if the person's net wealth doesn't perpetually grow? Society will have what it needs to live well. Because we all do better when we ALL do better. The growth strategies proposed by Liberal economists do not take into account basic human need."

Others attacked market ideology: "The market is fine when the choice is purely optional, like which television I want," said Kalistani Philosopher DeAndre Brown. "That is a pure choice. As I am in no way being compelled to make it by anything. But when I am compelled to do something, the freedom of that decision goes out the window. Markets implicitly require the choices IN the market place to be free. I don't have a free choice however about whether or not to eat. That gives the supplier of the food in the market an unfair advantage over the consumer. You HAVE to buy food, you do not have a choice. The only choice you get to make is which one of us gets to charge you a premium for the privilege of continuing to live. In Kalistan, they have reduced that unfair advantage by offering free food- Grown by the National Service Programs, provided at National Food Banks. So if you are hungry, you can go get food without having to put yourself in debt. The true value of the dual economy is that it allows choice in areas where it can be free, and removes the advantage of suppliers in areas where the choice is not free. This provides an opportunity for everyone to meet basic needs, and allows them then to dedicate their resources to obtaining the sort of life that they WANT to live, by their own free decisions."

Ultimately, the conference reaffirmed the committment of both nations to their chosen growth strategies, and hopefully will inspire other nations to abandon liberal economics for a more just and sustainable form of national economy, not only helping more people of the world to live a happier life, but also allowing the world to use less resources, and moving toward a more sustainable form of life globally.