ebbf members view on Greek financial crisis / 3. Arthur Dahl

ebbf board member Arthur Dahl from Switzerland addressed the underlining injustice, global implication, and environmental impact with holistic thinking. His inspiring comments are:

” From a systems science perspective, the Greek financial crisis is only one obvious symptom of a Western consumer economy trying to maintain itself through endless borrowing beyond any reasonable hope of reimbursement. If the growth rate stays lower than the interest rate, reimbursement is impossible. The drivers of past higher growth: cheap energy from fossil fuel, a growing workforce of young people, and resource discoveries, are all ending, while technological innovation faces diminishing returns. The banking crisis just shifted the debt problem to governments. Regardless of how the Greek crisis is handled in the short term, the global financial system is highly vulnerable. However from an environmental perspective, a global financial collapse might have the best chance of reducing fossil fuel consumption in time to save us from catastrophic climate change.”