Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism's Imminent Demise (vice.com)

Capitalism as we know it is over, an anonymous reader writes. So suggests a new report commissioned by a group of scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General. From a report: The main reason? We're transitioning rapidly to a radically different global economy, due to our increasingly unsustainable exploitation of the planet's environmental resources. Climate change and species extinctions are accelerating even as societies are experiencing rising inequality, unemployment, slow economic growth, rising debt levels, and impotent governments. Contrary to the way policymakers usually think about these problems, the new report says that these are not really separate crises at all. Rather, these crises are part of the same fundamental transition to a new era characterized by inefficient fossil fuel production and the escalating costs of climate change. Conventional capitalist economic thinking can no longer explain, predict, or solve the workings of the global economy in this new age, the paper says [PDF].

Comments

Re:Scientists?

[tepples]

Can someone tell me which hypothesis they tested and what data set they used to draw these conclusions.

The paper presents the hypothesis that private sector activity alone or even a carbon emission tax will suffice to transform human society to sustain itself. Then it cites previously published articles to refute this hypothesis.