Kelly, I'm not an economist either. I started trying to wade through economics
a few years ago. As an ecologist, I found the flaws in mainstream economics
stood out like a sore thumb, despite all the obfuscating language. Fortunately
there are real, credentialed economists writing about this stuff, because
nobody should take my word for it as a substitute for reading up on it
themselves.
We need to distinguish between economic activity and economic growth. Humans
need economic activity to provide what we all need, but theoretically this
activity could go on, providing a decent living for all, without increasing
(only if population growth stops), which basically means a steady-state economy
(the subject of Brian Czech's book). It's hard to imagine that the world's
bankers and industrialists would ever accept such a thing, but we're heading
there either by choice or not.
One big problem (even for a steady-state economy) is energy. Oil production is
peaking and it's likely that no combination of renewables can completely
substitute for our present uses of oil. So unless the aliens come down and
give us their super-advanced, perpetual, clean energy technology, the whole
economy is going to have to function at a lower level of energy consumption.
Sounds like a good thing, but getting there is very difficult. Let's keep
hoping for those aliens (assuming they're benign). ;)
