Cancerous growth

As I continue to hear pundits talking about recession, Lesslie Newbigin's words ring in my ears:

. . . Increased production has become an end in itself; products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production; a minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence; and the whole ecosystem upon which human life depends is threatened with destruction. Growth is for the sake of growth and is not determined by any overarching social purpose. And that, of course, is an exact account of the phenomenon which, when it occurs in the human body, is called cancer. (Foolishness to the Greeks p114, emphasis mine)

I think there can be no question that at this time in history, growth is for the sake of growth, and is not determined by any overarching social purpose - except perhaps the rebuilding of Babel. So dire is our condition that our 'prophets' (those on the television, who tell us what is to come) mourn that the growth might abate.

I cannot think of a better description of our economic system than cancerous. It is therefore incumbent upon Christians not to engage mindlessly in a terminally ill system, but through purposeful businesses to function as a sign, instrument and foretaste of the Kingdom of God.

Sound fundamentals

For the last several months, I have heard our President and others saying that despite the instability of the stock market, there are "sound fundamentals" of our economy. I want to question that claim.

How can a consumer economy be fundamentally sound?
It is built on wants rather than needs, which can be redirected, or restricted at any time. Furthermore, a consumer economy is, almost by definition, an environmentally destructive economy. As far as I understand, the vast majority of consumable goods are not recyclable, and those that are require further energy resources to recycle. For those two reasons (among others) I cannot understand the claim that our economy is fundamentally sound.

How can a debt-driven economy be fundamentally sound?
All eyes are on the lenders (including the Federal Reserve) as a measure of our economic health because a fundamental assumption of our society is that high rates of lending (regardless of the interest rates) are marks of a healthy economy. One only needs to glance at the mortgage industry to see that this is a flawed assumption. If one looks at how over-stretched the general public is (not to mention businesses) in its borrowing, it is clearly unsustainable. Or is that only clear to me?