What to do?

Capitalists and Marxists agree that a capitalist economy seeks continually to expand into new markets.
You might conclude that capitalism is in effect a kind of Ponzi scheme; as long as there are new investors,
the old will prosper; and you might consider also where this leads: to endless expansion.

The problem remains that the earth and its resources are finite, so endless terrestrial expansion is impossible.
So what does the future hold? One possibility is that the dynamic of capitalism will lead us to expand the global
economy to the point of economic-demographic-environmental collapse. There are, of course, other possibilities,
but since this seems the working plan, insofar as there is one, you might wish to consider: what to do?

1. We could, indeed, expand until we collapse. This approach has the benefit of requiring no heroic measures.
   All we need to do is to keep doing things as we have been doing them. On the other hand, it apparently
   means we are heading for a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. Not only will the economy collapse,
   but starvation and disease will kill an incalculable number of people. In addition, we will gravely wound the
   earth itself by exhausting its resources, greatly complicating any recovery. And want may give rise to war,
   the endlessly bountiful provider, able always to grant death to the loser, and the resources of the dead to
   the winner.

2. Create a command economy. This solution, to be more or less successful, must navigate past the Scylla of
   an Orwellian state while avoiding the Charybdis of endless expansion. It is quite possible that it will do neither.

3. Expand into outer space. Quite possibly impractical, it is the only solution which allows the capitalist dynamic to
   continue indefinitely.

There are other possibilities. But considering the future of our species and our planet are at stake, we may wish to
evaluate them carefully, and to attempt to find the best option.

Of course, my analysis may be wrong. But if so, could anyone please show me where and/or why? And, if I am not wrong,
what is to be done?

Having posed the question, I’ll make the first attempt to answer it.

1. (As a humane and practical prerequisite to stopping world population growth:) Commit to ending world starvation
   in a given number of years, say, ten. But how can we feed the starving without encouraging the lazy? The answer is,
   I believe, public works jobs which pay less than the local mean wage. There are a host of projects which need doing
   around the world: clean water projects and vaccination programs, to name just two. The price for adequate food for
   the able-bodied has to be work. (Those unable to work for one reason or another, obviously, should receive food
   without work—though we ought to consider whether there aren’t tasks even the relatively disabled can perform.)
   And, to keep expenses relatively low, these may only be part time, though they have to be always available.
   The cost of these programs would be significant but not prohibitive, and could be divided equitably among the
   relatively wealthy countries.

2. Commit to stopping world population growth. Again, I would think, time’s a wasting; we ought to commit to doing so
   in the next ten years or so. How to do this is a good question: I would think we should increase financial incentives
   and disincentives until they become effective. Certainly, I think, we need to implement 1., above, either in tandem
   or as a prerequisite. We can’t ask poor people to have fewer children when maximizing children is a prime strategy
   to avoid starvation in old age.

3. Assuming we successfully implement 2, above, we can then discover whether, and/or to what degree, capitalism
   collapses, and, therefore, what other measures will be necessary to continue/create prosperity. It may be that
   everything goes along just fine. If it does not, we can take appropriate action. In any case, we will have bought
   ourselves, in a certain sense, a little breathing space.