Peak oil, economic growth and the big lie

It cannot. It is so important to maintain the ‘Big Lie’ that governments lie to us about economic growth (and, to be fair, we want to be lied to). This is done by, among other things, manipulating inflation figures by frequently changing the formula by which inflation is calculated and by excluding the cost of fuel (energy) and food (human fuel). If, instead, we keep the inflation formula constant so that it can be compared over time then economic growth statistics look very different. For example, the Shadow Government Statistics (SGS) website shows that the U.S. economy is not, in fact, growing but has been contracting continuously since 2005:

And, in Australia, why should cost-of-living expenses be blamed for the near-eradication from the Queensland parliament of the governing Labor Party at the recent election if our economy and wages are growing? What is the real Australian rate of inflation that the “battlers” must cope with?

How bad will things have to get before we admit to ourselves that the ‘Big Lie’ is, in fact, just that? With the wealthy in charge of our media and our politicians unable to win votes unless they promise us a brighter future I suspect that most of us will never stop believing it. It is human to be irrational and hope nowadays is compulsory. Admitting that the ‘Big Lie’ is a lie also means admitting that too many hard truths are true. The truth that the world is finite is too hard for most of us to understand let alone to bear.