Growth, or overgrowth?

When I was young everything had to be "bigger, faster and/or better". Nowadays, all you hear is "growth, growth, growth" - as if we haven't learned anything in the past 40 years! Western economies seem a bit like the little African girl still being force-fed milk to make her a more attractive bride, even though the reason for this custom (showing that your parents have more than enough food, because food is a scarce commodity) no longer exists. Economic growth (especially in terms of increased production of primary goods) is only necessary if the population increases. When the population growth slows down and the propulation grows older, as is the case in many Western countries, you need to consolidate, and become more efficient.

But I guess it's another case of mental inertia: once in motion, it is very hard to get people to stop doing the same things again and again, even if the reason for doing it in the first place no longer exists. This is especially true of people who become obsessed with order, but for them, of course, it really isn't about order, it is mostly about proving to themselves that they can control something, anything, in the outside world. And something similar is presumably true about people who spend the first half of their lives getting rich that in the end that is all they seem to be able to do - generate more wealth, without necessarily enjoying it very much. (Some people would probably claim that the satisfaction of doing something well is also an important part of this type of behaviour, and that is probably true, but possibly more important is whether they are able to stop and smell the roses).