Capitalism Runs Out of Gas
Catabolic capitalism rains on your doomsday plans.
A decade ago, Craig Collins published an essay explaining what's going to happen when an economic system based on endless growth runs out of resources on a finite planet. It's not going to be pretty.
He eventually called it catabolic capitalism. Essentially, we start to consume each other. It's the only way to keep up profits.
Now we're living it.
As Collins explains, capitalism won't simply end when industrial civilization declines or collapses. That should terrify us all. See, civilizations have ended before. New civilizations grew in their wake.
Not this time.
Say what you will about any previous empire. They did some nasty stuff. It's nothing compared to capitalism.
This system brought us slavery and genocide on an industrial scale. It never ended. Both continue to this minute. Qatar worked hundreds of migrants to death to build soccer stadiums for billionaires. Fast fashion factories all over the world force people to sew and stitch for 17 hours a d…