Our economic system is based on readily available resources, since our form of currency has changed from one of value to a fiat currency rooted instead in debt. This system can and has worked well for many when economic times are good, but relies on ever-increasing growth based on energy. Without increases in extraction and availability of natural resources like oil, natural gas, and even water, our economy can not continue to grow. Without growth, our economy can not remain healthy or sustainable. Keynesian theory never was that great for anyone but those possessing or seeking great wealth at the expense of the majority.
Keynesian economics rely on this growth, but until the reality of the limits of growth were realized, few listened to it's critics. Ludwig von Mises was a Russian-born economist whose works built the basis for Austrian economic theory, paving the way for F. A. Hayek, Lew Rockwell (founder of the Mises Institute), and many others who saw the inability for those Keynesian economics to remain sustainable without positive growth. They also recognized the parity between John Maynard Keynes' theories and those of socialism, which was supported in Mises' book on the subject (full text available online). Only because people were not allowed to talk or to think about the nature of the socialist community was Socialism able to become the dominant political movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. - Mises
Automation and efficiency are yet another was that our economy has changed, resulting in increases in unemployment. During the Great Depression, GDP was cut in half. Unemployment rose from 3% to 25% (we are likely at about 15% actual today) and Roosevelt tried to institute a half work day to help keep as many people working, even if it reduced household income, but industry refused to participate, drawing out the Depression. A resource-based currency system is sustainable, not a fiat currency. Every fiat currency has collapse at some point in it's history, with 30 years being about the average lifespan. Nixon killed the Gold Standard, so we're a bit past average now.
Contrary to Keynesian theories, a country can not spend itself out of a depression. It can, however, prepare for one by reducing government spending and halt actions that cause inflation, which include bailouts. With 1 out of every 6 US dollars that the IMF is proposing to use for bailing out banks that bought Greek, Irish, and Portuguese debt, it should be more apparent that global financial systems are not sustainable, especially when they lay the burden of paying those increases on the lower classes that already have precious little resources, increasing the wealth gap.
Until you change the way money works, you change nothing - Michael C. Ruppert
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