Shoveling fuel for a runaway train : errant economists, shameful spenders, and a plan to stop them all

Americans have been conditioned to appreciate, cheer, and serve economic growth.

The author argues that, while economic growth was a good thing for much of American history, somewhere along the way it turned bad, depleting resources, polluting the environment, and threatening posterity.

Yet growth remains a top priority of the public and polity.

In this revolutionary manifesto, the author knocks economic growth off the pedestal of American ideology.

Asking for nothing less than a fundamental change in public opinion, he makes a bold plea for castigating society's biggest spenders and sets the stage for the "steady-state revolution". The author offers a sophisticated yet accessible critique of the principles of economic growth theory and the fallacious extension of these principles into the "pop economics" of Julian Simon and others.

He points with hope to the new discipline and ecological economics, which prescribes the steady-state economy as a sustainable alternative to economic growth.

Combining insights from economics, psychology, and ecology with a large dose of common sense, he drafts a blueprint for a more satisfying and sustainable society.

His ideas reach deeply into our everyday lives as he asks us to re-examine our perspectives on everything from our shopping habits to romance. This lively, easy to read, humorous book and bound to be controversial should provoke us to ask ourselves when we will stop the runaway train of economic growth.

This book answers the question, "how do we do it?