The spiral of economical growth
Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, the fifth season begins: the Christmas shopping season. The festive season is used to really boost sales again just before the end of the year.
Gifts are a must, so it’s not difficult to sort out items that could actually last quite a while and make room for something new.
We don’t treat ourselves to anything else.
What actually motivates the economy to start beating the advertising drum in September? Of course, the primary goal is to secure profits.
But there is another reason. If sales are insufficient, there is not enough money available for wages and social security contributions. In the worst case, jobs will have to be cut, and that will bring the trade unions into play.
We all know how nice it is to buy something new. We like to ignore the fact that our consumption also uses up raw materials and energy. We grudgingly accept the ever-increasing average temperature of the oceans and the Earth’s atmosphere due to the continuing rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Let’s get to the bottom of this growth spiral. In the public media, we read that it is good to consume a lot at Christmas because this secures wages and social benefits for the following year. So we are forced into excessive consumption.
However, when I look around my circle of acquaintances, I notice that more and more people are opting for second-hand goods. The willingness to buy cars also seems to be waning, as the automotive industry is suffering from sales difficulties.
However, governments have promised secure prosperity. Less consumption, lower wages and fewer social benefits pose an acute threat to prosperity, which in turn jeopardises the stability of society.
That is why the arms industry has to step in, because what it produces is not for immediate consumption. Once an enemy has been identified, it is relatively easy to approve large loans to enable the production of large quantities of armaments.
So far, so good, if the purpose of the armaments were not war. What happens when the arsenals overflow? Combined with unpredictable presidents, this creates a dangerous potential.
Abolition of wages
We think wages are indispensable. How would we buy food if there were no wages? How would we prevent our landlord from kicking us out? Wages are essential for life.
But wages also have a downside. Many people are very angry at the ‘super-rich’. The gap between rich and poor is widening and dividing our society. Where does wealth come from?
Marx explained it well. We work and get wages for it. But we only get paid for part of our work. The entrepreneur keeps the other part as profit. By selling our labour for wages, we create the conditions for entrepreneurs to appropriate the profits and for super-wealth to arise in the first place.
There is another weakness of wages. With the high level of science and technology, we would actually be able to automate many jobs in the economy in order to have more free time for our families. But we act completely illogically and prevent automation because then there would not be enough wages and social benefits available.
If wages have such serious disadvantages, shouldn’t we even think about wages themselves?
What conditions would have to be created in order to be able to do without wages?
- All goods would have to be free of charge.
- We would have to be able to live rent-free.
Why do we have to pay for raw materials? After all, water is just as free as air. Iron ore and oil are also gifts from the earth, gifts of creation for which we do not have to pay the earth.
Unfortunately, the land on which the raw materials are located belongs to someone. Our first thought is to expropriate these owners by force. However, this does not eliminate ownership; it simply means that it belongs to others. And violence is perhaps not the best idea either.
But is there another option?
The motive behind our consideration was to create conditions in which products would cost nothing, so that we could forego wages. This would provide a solution all by itself, because if everything were free, the owners of raw material deposits would have no need for income whatsoever – since everything is free. They would have no use for their income, and the raw materials would therefore be freely available.
This fulfils the first condition: all raw materials are free. What remains now are the costs of labour, i.e. wage costs.
But what happens if we forego our wages? Then there would be no wage costs at all, and all products would also be freely available.
What about rents? The same thing would happen as with the owners of raw material deposits. Property owners would also have no use for the income, and rents would therefore become obsolete.
If there were no more wages, there would be no need for economic growth. That does not mean that everything would come to a standstill. Of course, science and technology would continue to develop, but the driving force would no longer be consumption; instead, it would be to simplify people’s lives and protect nature as best as possible. Products would then be manufactured not in ever-increasing quantities, but in ever-improving quality.
Are there any examples of this?
Yes, that’s always the big question. We only do things that we know will work. There are not only examples such as soup kitchens, where free food is turned into free meals with the help of unpaid labour. Half of humanity works without pay. Everything that happens in the private sphere, cooking meals, doing laundry, raising children, caring for relatives, tending the garden, carrying out repairs, all of this happens without pay.
Why do we not recognise all this unpaid work?
Because unpaid work does not contribute to gross domestic product. Only what is consumed for money is calculated there. That is why no one talks about it, even though around 4 billion people are affected by unpaid work.
It is also important to mention that the symptoms we criticise in the capitalist economy do not exist in the unpaid care sector, such as economic growth. No one would think of cooking twice as much food as necessary. And, of course, there are no profits there either.
In fact, civil society as a whole functions very well without wages. So what is it, are there still doubts that wages only cause harm?
Wages were necessary as long as there had to be a market where everything necessary for life was purchased. With global networking and just-in-time production, the market has become superfluous. We report our needs directly to the producers and get what we need.
When labour no longer costs anything, it doesn’t matter how long something takes. Products can be designed so that they can be easily recycled at the end of their useful life. This creates a true circular economy.
Production would probably decline significantly immediately, as no one would be encouraged to take more than necessary. This would reduce the demand for raw materials, eliminating the market’s allocation function. This would also bring climate targets within reach.
And what would happen to the people in banks, insurance companies and tax offices?
They would have time off! They too would be part of the great celebration of giving and receiving gifts, and they would want to repay the favour by helping out where there is still a lot of work to be done.
Tax offices? We no longer need them, because everyone – teachers, firefighters, university employees, artists and cultural workers – is provided for free of charge. No one is excluded.
No one would then be cut off from the essentials of life, there would be no more rich and poor, and gender inequality would be eliminated because there would no longer be any difference between paid and unpaid work.
This can happen peacefully and quickly. We just need to spread this message around the world as quickly as possible so that everyone can discuss it.
And then we simply agree on a day from which all people on the entire planet refuse to accept wages. Perhaps as early as 1 May 2027, the day of unpaid labour?
This day will be a great celebration, from which we will receive everything we need for a happy and contented life. It will be a celebration like Easter, Christmas or a birthday, with the difference that this state of affairs will be permanent.
This festive atmosphere will also ensure that the transition goes smoothly.
When we are given everything, we also feel responsible for taking on unpleasant tasks from time to time. In a non-capitalist society, solidarity is much stronger. Many who only know capitalism can hardly imagine this today. But the author has lived in such a country for a long time and seen it with his own eyes.
More information on this can be found in the free PDF book ‘Care Economy 2.0’: https://LetUsBe.One/de2/Care-economy_mobil.pdf
I would very much like these ideas to be the subject of a broad discussion and ask that you share this appeal.
Berlin, 5 January 2026 Eberhard Licht