Written by -- Roy Olsen
Prince George
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
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STEPHEN HARPERCANADIAN
There are no economic fundamentals strong enough to sustain gluttonous consumption by hundreds of millions of people in excess of income funded by credit over the long term. There will be a market correction and we are witnessing it.
Some say that the U.S. can recover and resume its spendaholic ways because in a global economy there can be consumers who borrow money to buy from producers elsewhere in the world. However, the productive economies are trying to increase their standard of living so that they can achieve the same gluttonous levels of consumption as the U.S. There are simply not enough resources in the world for a billion more people to behave like the American consumer.
The Canadian and U.S. stock markets have lost around 2,000 points in the last six months or so. If there is a recovery it will take years; in the meantime, what should be done?
First, we have to recognize that there is a fundamental problem. Lifestyles in the affluent world have to shift permanently and substantially. We have to change from quantity of consumption to quality of consumption. Change needs to occur at a societal, community and individual level. Here in Prince George, for example, we can’t go into the future with a community plan developed in the 1960s. We need a whole new plan.
Unfortunately, all the infrastructure development in the transportation corridor was based on the assumption of rising global consumption. This may not happen for some time now. The logistics park at the airport and the 1970s style subdivision established out west for 4,000 square foot homes to be built to house all the workers may not fill up as fast as some are predicting. Meanwhile, the downtown will likely continue to struggle.
The events of this week should be a wake-up call. It’s time to go to work on change. Americans can’t spend their way out of this one and the U.S. government bailout -- well let’s put it this way - they’re just hitting the snooze button.
-- Roy Olsen
Prince George
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 September 2008 )
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