Civil Liberties

It causes enough problems now, and likewise in the past, but profits mean nothing without actual products or services. And those products and services require raw materials and people.

And since we don't have infinite resources, economic growth (ever-increasing GDP) must come to an end eventually. Expecting growth every year is like expecting a whole number exponent to not approach infinity as the exponent increases. Economic growth will instead approach zero at some point, and then investing will be equivalent to gambling with dice.

Assuming that humanity even survives very long, of course. It wouldn't surprise me if the investor-class exploiters desired the death of most of humanity at some point, just to start over with their continued profit motives and control of the labor class.

A zero-growth situation is more feasible and stable in the long term, but investors demand a steady income for essentially doing nothing.