It seems to me that free market economists have a job to do: they need to develop a model in which economic growth halts, and the system is in equilibrium. It is precisely the fetishization of growth, growth, growth which enables both sincere environmentalists and radicals who want to use environmentalism for other ends to demonize our system. Logically, we cannot all live in hilltop mansions. We cannot all have 25 cars, not at our present population levels. It would seem inevitable that growth must stop at some point, and for that reason we cannot at that point be depending on an economic model predicated on growth.
In my view, our Gross Domestic Product should be the same as it was in, say, 1912, in the dollars in use then. What should have happened is that our BUYING power reached a point where we could afford whatever we wanted, which presumably would include a great deal of leisure, once our basic needs were met.
For that reason, my financial plan, or something like (I have had some ideas and plan to tweak it, and certainly continue to welcome feedback) it, is not just necessary to get us out of the very dangerous financial straits we are in, but points the way towards an economically and environmentally sustainable future.
Please ponder this. This is a very important point. My first stab at it is here.