Column by Midas Dekkers on economic recession

The miser

I'm bringing great news. The economy is doing well. It should not have taken much longer, but finally it has arrived: the times of growth have gone. Finally there is no more money for new roads and office buildings, finally it's possible to spot some pockets of sand on the beach between the tangle of pavilions, finally the speed with which the city throws new constructions upon village after village. There is renewed hope for the ozone layer. Small is beautiful again. We're past the phase of growth; our puberty can begin.

The environment is having parties. In the offices of the nature preservation societies they have hang out the banners, the people of the Netherlands are outrageous of joy. At least, that's what one would expect in a country where the collective nature preservation societies have four million members [one in four, RZ]. The official announcement of an economic recession should have been a kind of D-day [the Allied landings in Normandy in World War II, RZ]. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. Environment protectionists stand in line with project developers in lamenting the smaller reduction of the collective taxation, nature activists look worriedly into the contents of their wallets.

Money must roll. So economists say. Money is necessary to satisfy needs. This is the teaching of the founder of economy, Adam Smith, and modern economists still adhere to it. However, Smith has been dead for a long time, and since that time there has been a substantial change. Western men doesn't have needs anymore. If you want something, you just buy it; if you want to go somewhere, you just go; if you want to talk nonsense, you just talk nonsense. Before you can even think about it, your need has already been satisfied. There you go. Now what? In order to keep the economy running, people that have no needs are satisfied against their will. Four wheel-drive cars, triple-sized hamburgers, travels to Antarctica where no sensible human would want to go, all of these are forced upon you. That is no longer a matter of satisfying, it is a matter of rape. People don't shop to buy, they shop for fun. Every euro spend is an illusion lost. Economic activity has lost its purpose.

Those economists could do with a bit of fresh air. From nature. Nature runs like an economy for millions of years. Human economists are flabbergasted. There is a place where the richest places are the poorest, and the poorest places are the richest. The poorer the soil, the richer the fields of flowers, the less nutrition in the lake, the more interesting the animals inhabiting it. No plant or animal can live completely without nutrition, but a little nutrition is better than a lot. In over-fertilized areas only the the few species with the biggest mouths survive. In order to survive on poor grounds, you don't have to be pushy but clever. Exemplary is the flower that catches flies because it cannot get enough nitrogen from the soil.

A well organized economy does not strive primarily to profit, but to knowledge. It is not the richest, but the best educated people that grow to be the oldest and the most happy. Investments should be primarily targeted to education. A few less office buildings or airport runways does not matter as long as you build schools and universities. Preferably not incorporating too much faculties for economists. In order to study greed you do not need a university.

I wish you a pleasant recession.

(translation: redactie IRP).