It’s time we all became economics atheists

Is it coincidental that so many articles in last week’s Mail & Guardian (January 27) were more closely related than usual? “Wealth is a threat to environment”; “When a catchphrase trips you up”; “Dreams turn to dust for Mozambicans moved for Vale pit”; “Uganda gives refugees hope, land and jobs”; “Matric really starts with grade one”; “Inequality requires concrete solutions”.

All these headlines foregrounded something that environmental, economic and social justice activists have been saying for many years: not only are overconsumption and overaccumulation the main reasons for global environmental degradation, apparently insoluble poverty, growing inequality, the corporatisation of the academy, but they also point to what has been ignored, even by students of Marxist theory.

Marx spoke not only of the exploitation of labour but also of the environment, without which none of the top global industries would be profitable today. The United Nations estimates that this environmental exploitation amounts to a subsidy of about $7.3-trillion annually — 13% of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. In far too many cases, the burden of this subsidy is carried by people who already have little and who lose their local natural resources to boot, killing all hope of genuine local sustainability.

The Band-Aid approach ignores root causes — the myths of GDP growth-driven economic and education policies. These grow from the cult called “economics”, which has more in common with religion than any pure science. Economics gives us the doctrine of growth, the high priests (Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, the World Trade Organisation and others), “the market” being seen as omnipotent, and so on. The omniscient market knows best. It is a benign creation, for if you do the right things you will be rewarded.

It is time we voted in a government that sees this and actually looks at what its own research is saying. When he was finance minister, Trevor Manuel confirmed that, for poverty to be dented under the current economic paradigm, it would take 25 consecutive years of 7% annual GDP growth — yet the national treasury confirms that it does not see us reaching much above 4% until 2050.

Relying on that is insanity, but we have not shifted away from the mantra of GDP growth. It will supposedly take 100 to 200 years to “eradicate” poverty. Global warming and pollution already kills and displaces millions every year.

We need policies that speak to each other, harm none and prioritise basic human needs. These needs are eradicating hunger, housing and service backlogs; radically improving community safety, with an emphasis on gender; and creating a people- and planet-centred economy, driving livelihoods, not just jobs.

The resources are available; the political and corporate will is not. We need a balanced political playing field with direct representation. People must be asked what they want and policy should be designed to give effect to that. South Africa is supposed to be a participatory democracy, right?

Our choices are simple, if stark — radical change soon or planetary death. No other option appears on the horizon.