Consumerism in America

What has made America the consumer nation it is today?  Why do we buy so much?  Why do we want so much?

I think there are a number of psychological and historical theories behind all of this, but I was thinking of one in particular recently: what if one of the biggest sources of the problem is was the Cold War?

I see the Cold War as an economic battle with some superficial democracy v. communism proxy wars on the side.  I say "superficial" because they were all ultimately contingent upon the economic aspect of the "war" - in other words, both nuclear powers knew they would never militarily defeat the other unless they first emerged as the superior economic battle.  Economy was a fight that could be won.

This was the time period that infused an obsession with growth into the American psyche.  Development was not enough - if America was not actively growing, it was losing the Cold War.  If it was not making more, exporting more, using more, building more, and on and on and on, it was in grave danger of losing economic hegemony to the Soviet Union.

That mindset has stuck.  Even though development is far more sustainable than growth, America is still focused on keeping its economic hegemony in the world.  Especially in a nuclear-armed world, if America doesn't have economic power, it doesn't have any power at all.

This has made the rise of China rather problematic.  According to several calculations, China surpassed the US in total world trade last year.  China's economy is on track to overtake the US's within a decade.  Will this lead to a multipolar economic world, or will the US try everything humanly possible to remain on top?

And which is more sustainable: a permanently unipolar world, or a permanently multipolar world?  If it's the latter, America could have some huge changes to make to itself in the next few decades...

The Green Wall of China

China is frequently labeled as the world's biggest CO2 emitter, but unfortunately the discussion of China's role in international struggle with climate change often ends there.  It is true that China is the largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world, but there is more to China's rise than simply contributing to an international problem.  Perhaps psychologically, Americans favor that viewpoint to cover up the fact that America, the country with the highest per-capita emissions rate, isn't doing enough to mitigate climate change.

Barack Obama and Hu Jintao agree to the CERC

As China has risen, its leaders have increasingly turned to more rational policies, knowing that only those will gain China strong international allies and give its rise a true foundation.  Along these lines, China has begun to use its economic and political might to mold itself into a nation prepared for the environmental challenges of the 21st century.  Most recently, the Chinese government highlighted the importance of the environment in its 12th Five Year Plan:
http://www.kpmg.com/CN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Publicationseries/5-years-plan/Documents/China-12th-Five-Year-Plan-Overview-201104.pdf

In fact, Chinese government officials have already started working with the United States in a joint organization known as the CERC.  The two countries have pledged $150,000,000 to the CERC, which brings together American and Chinese scientists to work on clean energy technology.  Moreover, it exemplifies the kind of partnership the United States and China need to have in order to tackle the world's most prominent environmental issues: http://www.us-china-cerc.org/

Contrary to popular belief, China is also the world leader in renewable energy investments.  According to Jack Perkowski of Forbes,

China was responsible for almost one-fifth of total global investment, spending $52 billion on renewable energy last year. The United States was close behind with investments of $51 billion, as developers sought to benefit from government incentive programs before they expired. Germany, Italy and India rounded out the list of the top five countries.

According to China’s 12th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2011-2015), the country will spend $473.1 billion on clean energy investments over the next five years. China’s goal is to have 20 percent of its total energy demand sourced from renewable energy by 2020.

I don't know about you, but I'd say that for a quickly rising new superpower of over a billion people, China isn't doing too bad on the clean energy front.  I don't seem to recall the West trying to mitigate climate change during its industrial revolution....  kudos to the PRC

Water Solutions: Microeconomics

So we've all heard of the big-picture, let's-revolutionize-water "solutions" to world water shortages.  My personal favorite is probably ship-towing glaciers across oceans to consumers.  But sometimes we forget that the best solutions might not be revolutionary at all. 

That's why I'm proposing a simple microeconomic threshold-then-tax model for world water to deal with the problem that water is simply too cheap in wasteful nations:

• Make it illegal to not own a water-usage meter (just like with smoke alarms).
• In high per-capita consuming countries like the US, establish a threshold of acceptable water usage.  Let's say this threshold starts at 90% of the average American's usage.
• Below the threshold, keep the price of water low.
• Above the threshold, impose a tax that deters people (and corporations) from wasting water.
• Use the revenue from the taxes to fund source-solutions, such as grants to companies who invent water-efficiency technologies.

The best part about this policy is that the threshold eliminates any significant regressive qualities, so it would fix water usage but not fuel economic inequality.