Survey: Albertans unhappy with quality of life
By Dean Bennett, THE CANADIAN PRESS
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/10/14/4575820-cp.html
Filed under: Commentary, Media, TTTS on October 15th, 2007
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I’m puzzled by the quote “We’re all thankful to be living in a bustling economy…”, said following a discussion of all the troubles it has brought. WHY are “they all” thankful to be living in a booming economy?
Are they happy about it because they know they’re supposed to be, because it goes without saying that economic growth is always “good”? This is the crux of the issue, I think. Until people can actually question the desirability of infinite economic growth — in Alberta, in Canada, worldwide — without getting laughed out of the room, we are ecologically and
socially screwed!
I saw this article in the Globe and didn’t pay it much attention.
I’ve come to agree with what one of our readers commented on the blog.
If people were unhappy before the boom, then the sudden influx of wealth will likely not have changed that. If they were happy before the boom, then they are probably still happy now, in their huge new homes with their three car garages.
It has been shown than once basic human needs have been met and a minimal level of poverty has been surmounted, wealth has little to no effect on happiness.
You’re right Lori. We need to stop treating economic forecast as though it were gospel. But here’s the thing: economists have done their best to make their discipline as rigorous, objective and rational as any of the other pure sciences. Problem is the pure sciences make little room for qualitative factors and as human behaviour is often unpredictable. Also, there is a thinking out there that you can’t argue with science, and so, with all of its complicated graphs and fancy formulas, we tend not to argue that which we feel we do not understand.
Have you ever read the book Parecon by Michael Albert? It’s a good attempt at imagining Life After Capitalism as he calls it.