A new economic boom

I don’t think we will have another boom until we have sustainable energy systems and only once the Smart Grid and energy storage are ubiquitous.  Then we will have an extended boom like in the WWII post war years. Energy now is not cheap and it’s price is definitely trending upwards until we have large scale renewables and storage systems set up and optimised. We might see some wild boom and bust cycles until energy systems are sustainable. There may appear to be big gains for a minority of the population during the boom years, but what usually happens is that when a bust follows, that bubble burst affects the wider society and service delivery by governments.  Most of the people who profiteer from a boom usually have enough put aside to do well even in a bust, apart from a few exceptions. The boom and bust cycles of the last few decades has seen a large transfer of wealth from the broad public to an elite  minority. The property market in Australia is still in an extended boom phase – and while that is on most home owners are happy to let public services be eroded and run down. Selfish aspirationals are actually setting themselves up to having their collective aspirations dashed when a bust does come through. Looking back now at the Howard years, few people would deny that the opportunities of those years was squandered.