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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