Since I’m on the theme of the Planet Earth misunderstanding portrayed by the much heralded and admired (even by me) new economic policy direction published by WAG, I want to address the concept of ‘sustainability’ which runs like a mantra through all these kinds of government bullshit publications. Sustainability is a nice word but it is meaningless in the context of the real economy and life in Wales. There is no such thing as sustainable business, sustainable energy, sustainable health or sustainable everything. Life is dynamic, ephemeral, changing – it just isn’t sustainable. Nature has built-in obsolescence. The only chestnuts that are sustainable are those old favourites, Death and Taxes.
Sustainability is a term that is now attached to every conceivable policy (or advisory) document that is published by government. Want a planning application – is it sustainable? Want a house – is it sustainable? Want a hospital – is it sustainable? Want a Nation for ourselves – is it sustainable? Want a Referendum – is it sustainable? Everybloodything is now judged against a yardstick of sustainability. But how can you measure sustainability? What objective criteria can be applied? I can claim that this blog is sustainable and worthy of being read purely on the basis that it is still here and has been for the past couple of years – but I can’t guarantee that it will be tomorrow. No-one can. Sustainability is a myth, a weasel word invented to distract us from Reality. It is like the dinosaur who remarked to his colleagues ‘ they tell us there’ll be a nice pretty comet display this evening, I hope it is sustainable’.
Of course, we all want things to last and continue into the future but sadly this is not how societies develop. The Roman Empire was sustained for several centuries by an applied ‘civilising’ combination of social elitism, armed brutality and control of the denarii coinage through taxation. Nation-building and politics haven’t changed much since then. However, even this Empire was not ‘sustainable’.
What IS sustainable is money and the flow of money (taxes) whether this is defined as a silver denarius, dollar, euro or a bag of Pembrokeshire new potatoes. The means of exchange for goods and services underlies everything we do. Anything significant to do with the reform of banks and the banking system is missing from the ‘sustainable’ economic policy released by WAG – that is why it is fatally flawed. This is a government matter, a national priority and that is what policy should be focused on.
Comments
