Liberals have new plan to make life miserable

THE left has a new goal: degrowth. We should “buy less stuff,” forgive debts, grow our own food, etc. They say this will “build a more just and sustainable society” and “save the planet” from “climate chaos.” This idea is popular with capitalism-haters.

One at a Changenow “eco conference” says, “A smaller, slower economy could also be a sweeter economy.” A sweeter economy? What nonsense.

We already unintentionally experimented with “degrowth.” During the pandemic, frightened politicians closed businesses and ordered people to stay home. Growth stopped.

“Did that save us?” asked Swedish author Johan Norberg in my new video. “No. It was a terrible tragedy. Sixty million people were thrown into extreme poverty.”

Yet some “degrowth” activists call the pandemic a good thing. “Did a lot of environmental good,” one said on Al Jazeera. “Pollution

has been radically cut, emissions have plummeted,” said another.

It’s true. The pandemic did reduce carbon emissions. “But by no more than 6 percent,” Norberg said. “If we wanted to reduce global warming, we would need one pandemic every year. And that would be a terrible disaster for human life and health.”

Climate change may be a serious threat. But reducing global growth won’t help. It would make things worse. Growth and that much-hated capitalism are our only hope to create the wealth that may help us better adjust to climate change.

Norberg pointed out, “If we didn’t have any economic growth since the 1950s, we would have slightly less global warming, but around half a million more people would die because of climate-related natural disasters. The risk of dying has declined by some 90 percent, and that’s not because we have fewer disasters. … It’s because we’ve had economic growth. It means that we improve construction, improve early warning systems, improve health care … we can deal with disasters in a better way.”

Over time, even a little growth makes a huge beneficial difference. “If Sweden, my own country,” he said, “had had just 1 percentage point lower economic growth per capita, then Sweden today would be as poor as Albania.”

Albania’s growth was stunted by years of communism. Today Albanians risk their lives to try to reach capitalist countries.

“That’s what you need to know about different economic and political systems,” Norberg said. “Look at where the refugees go. They always go from more socialist economies to capitalist economies. People risk their lives to get to freedom and prosperity.”

The no-growth advocates don’t acknowledge that. They despise capitalism. We invited more than a dozen of them to come on Stossel TV to explain how degrowth is better. Not one would.

Economic growth freed millions from stoop labor, from burning manure for heat, from lives where they die young. Not only did free markets release people from miserable poverty, when they did, they created conditions where people

want to take care of the environment. It’s why capitalist countries are less polluted than socialist ones. Only when you aren’t worried about your next meal can you start thinking about preserving nature.

Degrowth would leave the world poor, miserable and polluted.