Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders,
and a Plan to Stop Them All...

...has just been released in paperback so I’m sending off one last round
of announcements (though I reserve the right to have a memory relapse if
necessary).  I’m tired of acting like a salesman.  It’s way ironic, given
the message of Shoveling Fuel.  But defeating the politics of economic
bloating is something that’s going to take a lot of effort, perhaps even
the professional sacrifice of some who hate sounding like salesmen.

So for those who haven’t heard of it, Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train
applies principles of ecology (especially trophic theory) and
evolutionary biology to the workings of the human economy, concluding
that there is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and
ecological integrity.  It finds neoclassical economic growth theory to be
fallacious, dangerous, and corrupted at the nexus of academia,
corporatism, and government.  It explains why economic growth is such a
primary, perennial, and bipartisan goal in the United States.  It also
provides an overview of ecological economics, a new paradigm in economics
that should be treasured for its ecologically savvy policy prescriptions.

Part 2 of Shoveling lays out a plan for the Steady State Revolution.  It
synthesizes theory from Darwin, Veblen, and Maslow, and reveals the
‘liquidator syndrome’ afflicting many Americans.  It identifies 3 classes
based not upon the ownership of capital, but based upon level of
consumption: the wantonly wasteful liquidating class, the responsible
steady state class, and the observing amorphic class.  

Once the motives of the liquidators and the effects of their behavior are
revealed to a majority of Americans, the steady state class will begin to
castigate the liquidating class (assuming Americans care about their
grandkids, which they claim to, very much).  Pursuant to Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, a tremendous turning of the socioeconomic tables
transpires.  A positive feedback process unfolds, resulting in
‘trickle-down consumption’ (sorry, supply siders) that leads toward the
establishment of a steady state economy.  Because the Steady State
Revolution is based upon consumption and not upon the ownership of the
means of production, it will come to fruition in a capitalist democracy.

The steady state economy is characterized by stabilized population and
per capita consumption at levels sufficiently below economic carrying
capacity to conserve an acceptable amount of ecological integrity (such
as native biodiversity).  

The new paperback edition of Fuel is $17 (probably less at Amazon).  You
can learn more about the Steady State Revolution, Shoveling Fuel, and
also my related video production at www.steadystate.org 

Brian Czech
Arlington, VA
USA