Moderne družbe so po dveh stoletjih izjemnega razvoja zasvojene z gospodarsko rastjo, ki naj bi bila zaradi tehnološkega napredka in prevlade storitev nad proizvodnjo materialnih dobrin brezmejna. Njen “znanstveni” temelj je produkcijska funkcija; gospodarsko rast pa naj bi ustvarjala predvsem skupna faktorska produktivnost, ki naj bi jo zagotovila vlaganja v raziskave in razvoj. EU je zasvojenost z rastjo strnila v lizbonsko strategijo, na pol poti priznala njen neuspeh in “staro” strategijo zamenjala s »prenovljeno«; ta se je usmerila predvsem v zagotavljanje gospodarske rasti in delovnih mest. Toda tudi »prenovljena« je temeljila na leporečju in ustvarjanju institucij. Gospodarska kriza je dokončno razkrila, da je šlo za iluzije, da gospodarsko rast tudi na kratek rok omejuje povpraševanje in da je temeljni problem razvitega sveta ustvariti dovolj dela in ne dovolj dobrin. Tehnološke spremembe, ki izrivajo delo iz proizvodnje materialnih dobrin, sicer posredno omogočajo povečevanje zaposlenosti v storitvenih dejavnostih, vendar globalizacija, ki je tudi globalizacija tržnega fundamentalizma, te možnosti zmanjšuje, saj dejavnosti z visoko dodano vrednostjo hitro pretvarja v dejavnosti z nizko. Gospodarska kriza bo nedvomno spremenila svet; vsaj začasno z opustitvijo doslej veljavnih paradigem tržnega fundamentalizma na globalni ravni in z njegovo nadomestitvijo z mnogo bolj lokalnimi politikami agregatnega povpraševanja, ki jih je mogoče usmeriti v novi »zeleni New Deal«.

After two centuries of extremely rapid development modern societies have become obsessed with economic growth. It is taken as limitless due to technological change and prevalence of services over production of goods. The “scientific” pillar of it is production function; growth is to be achieved by increases of total factor productivity secured by investments in research and development. In 2000, EU condensed the obsession with growth in the Lisbon strategy. It admitted in 2004 that it failed, and, in 2005, replaced the “old” strategy with the “renewed” one; economic growth and job creation were in the core of it. The paths to the new goals did not seem to be assured; also the “renewed” strategy relied on empty talks and creation of new institutions. World economic crisis has finally and definitely shown that the strategy was illusion, that economic growth is in the short run limited by demand rather than by supply, and that the core problem of modern societies is creation of enough jobs and not creation of enough goods. Technological changes which are mainly labor saving, indirectly enable creation of new jobs in the service sectors; it is but countered by globalization of market fundamentalism which swiftly turns high value added sectors of economic activity into low value added sectors. World economic crisis will change the world; at least by temporary abandonment of global market fundamentalism with much more local policies of aggregate demand creation which could be directed towards a “Green New Deal”.