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Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop them All Paperback – August 1, 2002

by Brian Czech (Author)
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 28 ratings
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Americans have been conditioned to appreciate, cheer, and serve economic growth. Brian Czech 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, Czech knocks economic growth off the pedestal of American ideology. Seeking nothing less than a fundamental change in public opinion, Czech makes a bold plea for castigating society’s biggest spenders and sets the stage for the "steady state revolution."

Czech 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 of ecological economics, which prescribes the steady state economy as a sustainable alternative to economic growth.

Czech explores the psychological underpinnings of our consumer culture by synthesizing theories of Charles Darwin, Thorstein Veblen, and Abraham Maslow. Speaking to ordinary American citizens, he urges us to recognize conspicuous consumers for who they are―bad citizens who are liquidating our grandkids’ future. Combining insights from economics, psychology, and ecology with a large dose of common sense, Czech 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.

From his perspective as a wildlife ecologist, Czech draws revealing parallels between the economy of nature and the human economy. His style is lively, easy to read, humorous, and bound to be controversial. Czech will provoke all of us to ask when we will stop the runaway train of economic growth. His book answers the question, "How do we do it?"
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  1. Print length
    222 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    August 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    5.4 x 0.56 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0520225147
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0520225145
  8. Lexile measure
    1290L
  9. See all details
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3.6 out of 5 stars
28 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Aaron Z Witham
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books of our time
    Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    The link between human well being and economic growth may be the most dangerous fantasy propagated in our modern culture. For poor and/or developing countries, the link between the two is more clear. In more developed countries, the two may be at odds. Brian Czech explains why. I highly recommend reading this!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • watzizname
    4.0 out of 5 stars Czechmate
    Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    On page 192 of his very excellent book The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century James Howard Kunstler favorably mentions Brian Czech's "Shoveling Coal on a Runaway Train," so I looked for "Shoveling Coal on ...," but instead found "Shoveling Fuel for ...," so I bought and read that, and I am glad I did.

    I have to agree with the reviewers who found part 1 of Shoveling much better than part 2. Part 1 makes a very good case that, nearly all professional economists to the contrary notwithstanding, unlimited economic growth is not possible, and the growth of the American economy and the World economy must end, either gradually and smoothly (what he calls K-selected, see p. 89) or suddenly and painfully (r-selected, see p. 90).* His argument is irrefutable, but unfortunately it is ignorable, albeit we ignore it at our peril. Why do nearly all economists continue to make the unsupportable claim that growth can continue forever? Czech tells us on page 51: "Economists, academic and bureaucratic, are hired to toe the line for economic interests. Rarely explicitly, but almost always effectively." As long as the controlling executives perceive the doctrine of unlimited economic growth to be to their benefit, economists who want jobs will continue to give lip service to unlimited growth, until the laws of nature (exhaustion of resources) brings the whole economy down. (see Kunstler's portrayal of America after the r-selected collapse, as he envisions it, in World Made by Hand: A Novel )

    Czech is perfectly correct that it will take a revolution in popular thinking to bring about the necessary change in our goal from steady economic growth to a sustainable steady-state economy. "If it is not to jeopardize the lives of the grandkids, its growth must taper off at or below carrying capacity in K-selected fashion . . . . This will require nothing less than a revolution, a social revolution . . . ." (page 111). But wisely, Czech does not call for a violent revolution. He quotes M. B. Brown: "Most revolutionary social changes have involved very little violence. . . . It is the social breakdown that follows a failure to change that engenders violence." But he (unfortunately correctly) adds that "Americans are exhibiting some highly r-selective traits, portending a failure to change that engenders violence."

    Most of the rest of part 2 consists of Czech's suggested program for producing the needed non-violent social revolution. Sadly, it is unrealistic; it won't work because it won't be adopted. The general public will persist in denial until the r-crisis is upon us, and it is too late. Just one example: he calls for women (and men) to disdain and reject big spenders (he calls them liquidators), and some already do, but as long as there are big spenders, there will be a plentiful supply of beautiful-looking gold-diggers to prey on them, and there will be plenty of handsome gold-digging men to flatter and prey on female liquidators.

    Part 1 is worth the price of the book, and clearly deserves five stars, but so much of part 2 is based on wishful thinking that it is generous to allow it three. A weak four stars.

    watziznayme@gmail.com

    * K stands for "carrying capacity," the population the world can continue indefinitely to support; r is the rate of population growth. Why K is capitalized and r isn't, Czech doesn't make clear, at least to me.
    One person found this helpful
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  • ian710
    2.0 out of 5 stars Rambling and somewhat awkward treatise on the ills of economic growth, particularly conspicuous consumption
    Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    A somewhat odd write up criticizing mainstream neoclassical economics and its focus on endless growth as a legitimate goal for society. Odd because it does not delve into numbers or facts as one would expect, but is predominantly written in a philosophical manner that borders on moralizing, especially in the latter half when the author proposes how we should start a social revolution by making excessive/conspicuous consumption socially unacceptable. He takes specific aim at growth proponent Julian Simon, devoting an entire chapter to critiquing his book and the supposedly fallacious arguments in it. I have not read Simon's work, but it seems a little off topic or at least excessive for the purposes of this book.

    To conclude, this book spends too much time saying how wrong consumption is without sufficiently explaining why spending and investing money is. Even just leaving your savings in the bank is no good as bankers will make loans to growth hungry corporations with it. Of course, most people already know materialistic consumption is bad, but at least one should try writing more convincing arguments to sway the mainstream. Just repeating that it is wrong and urging people to castigate the wealthy will not work. As the author explains himself, the need to flaunt one's riches is biologically ingrained in all of us, as a way to move up socially. Tall order it is indeed to compel individuals to ignore this natural urge, with grim implications for humanity.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amanda Peck
    3.0 out of 5 stars Living in a World without Color
    Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2002
    Verified Purchase
    The book has its moments. Including most of the first 106 pages, although there were a few "huh?'s" I had reading them. I have long been convinced that "sustainable" "just enough" are good words for the world's economy. So I certainly don't disagree that Jack Kemp was full of it when he vowed to "double the size of the economy."
    But.
    I really don't understand his solutions. Czech would like us to think that non-rich people who don't work for a living are a little iffy. Well, actually, people who don't work for a living period, I suspect. But if we were to get rid of everything that anyone considered a luxury, would there be jobs for us? I would not have survived the last thirty or forty years without working for a) a bookstore, b) a couple of record stores, c) a master's degree that automatically put me into the useless degree club d) an advertising photographer, e) a nightclub, not to mention, some years later, f) the "Cadillac" of class 8 trucks, Peterbilt. All, I strongly suspect, of those jobs would be what he classifies as useless, contributing to growth, part of what we need to get rid of. The kind of thing that you are supposed to go harangue the workers, owners, stockholders (another category altogether, see the next paragraph) for being associated with such a liquidating economy. Liquidating in this case, means spending for spending's sake--on luxury, or growth, or otherwise non-productive goods or occasions.
    He also disapproves of investment, presumably, as a consequence, all lending. Possibly pensions, IRA's, savings bonds to pay for the kids' college, and so on and so on. I think he really does believe that savings should be held in the mattress. Banks are instruments of growth, and therefore, to be regarded with deep suspicion.
    I don't believe that he makes a distinction between luxury and quality. He certainly does not believe that any possessions can make you feel good--at least on a long-term basis. Including the dogs and the bird feeder, even if it is the "free" one that came with the bird seed. Clothes, all jewelry, most live music (if you want to have a nice piano or guitar to play yourself, or if you go a club, or, possibly a sponsored concert), arts and crafts, are singled out for serious disdain.
    Colorless, depressing, creativity suppressed--although we are allowed to be self-actualizing.
    It sounds rather as if he looks with approval to the Cuban situation with respect to cars--recycle, recycle, recycle, until there are none left. Although that might be colorful in it's own right. But applied to every manufactured good? Do all craftspeople have to severely criticize anyone who expresses an interest in their work? Should his book have been published in paperback, for anyone with the money to buy? How would libraries be able to afford it if publication was in such limited quantity?
    14 people found this helpful
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