I agree to some extent, the problems are partially with people misunderstanding economic growth, and once we move away from that then at least some of the problems will go away.<p>In the economy of barter, we gave what we had for what we wanted. Money was invented because it allowed us to buy from those we had nothing to sell to, facilitating easier trades. If you consider an economy as an engine, money would be the lubricant, it helps the engine run more smoothly, and just like engine lubricant it only works when it flows.<p>Using the engine analogy again, what we should realise is that it&#x27;s the engine that does the work and produces the goods, why do we need ever increasing amounts of lubricant for this engine? Two reasons, the lubricant gets hoarded, taking it out of use, and there&#x27;s an ever increasing demand on the engine to produce more.<p>Breaking away from the engine analogy now, whilst some of the increased demands on growth come from increasing population size, the other reason for the increase is extra demands on material wealth. Whilst there are those in poverty that clearly would benefit from increased material wealth, is that universally true? I don&#x27;t know about you, but I know I&#x27;ve felt a certain amount of emptiness from the whole process, it&#x27;s rare that I&#x27;ll be excited about a new item, and yet I&#x27;m working a good chunk of my time for items I barely want.<p>Perhaps material wealth only brings you happiness up to a point, and after that it&#x27;s a case of diminishing returns. Perhaps you need to have grown up comfortably to see that, though clearly some people are happy with endlessly chasing material wealth so it doesn&#x27;t appear to be a view held by everyone.