I agree with this points.

Hmm, so the G20 wants above trend growth and thus there will be growth.

Sounds a little far fetched to me. Real growth requires the consumption of stuff. Stuff is becoming increasingly to produce as the little phrase so conveniently overlooked in this and similiar views is ignored. That phrase is 'the limits to growth.'

We may not yet be at the limits but we are getting close. Just because we want something doesn't make it so. I would suggest continual disappointment is the future for those wanting or expecting growth.

It's now time to adapt to a post growth economy whether you like it or not.

Why should growth be an imperative?

So long as we want to grow, we are not happy with what we have.

How much and how long do we want to grow? 2 meters? 3 meters? as tall as Mt. Everest?

Unless we decide on a fixed limit to growth, we will never be happy!

But, you may say, it's all about ECONOMIC growth...

Then why doesn't the title say so?

Because the West has lost all touch with reality (and dragged the rest of the world along), all proportion, so exaggerating the importance of economy and GDP that it forgot what life is about; that money cannot make one happy; and that there are other forms of growth, such as in character-building, increasing compassion, courage and loving relationships (also spiritual growth, but accepting it is not a requisite for this discussion).

In fact, even the meaning of the word 'economy' was forgotten: the online dictionary gives:

1. thrifty management; frugality in the expenditure or consumption of money, materials, etc.
2. an act or means of thrifty saving; a saving.
3. the management of the resources of a community, country, etc., especially with a view to its productivity.
4. the prosperity or earnings of a place.

But the first two definitions are forgotten.

We better learn to be happy with what we already have. If we do so, we will be happier (a tautology)!

Instead of looking for how we can make more dollars (you can't take them with you to heaven anyway), we better cultivate the things in life that bring joy without costing a cent as well as making the most of those things that cost little, which we already have.

Contentment is superior to growth.

While the practical steps suggested by the author are generally positive, the goal they try to achieve is a mirage.

Excellent post Yuyutsu.

Surely there has to be growth to pay for the increasing cost of the growing human population.

If there has to be growth, it must be productive growth, in other words, of those who make up the growth numbers, the vast majority of them must contribute, not just be another source of expenditure we have to pick up the tab for, which has been our main problems of past years.

On the one hand,we have been taking in people who don't contribute, while on the other, we have also been giving many of our jobs to 457 holders. Then there is our aging population to consider as well.

However, with our looming jobs cricis, we must suspend all 457 visas and, we must put a hold on immigration, at least until we get a tax system that can cope, because at the moment we are headed south, big time.