Re: Don't tell Shawn, but...


"Chris Hayes" <hayes12@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1137804112.321073.70700@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>> > As the old adage goes, "Those who believe in infinite growth in a
>> > finite world are either lunatics or economists."
>>
>>
>> Yes. Those who do not believe in it are simply wrong.
>>
>
> Yeah, right. Why don't you pull my other finger while you're at it?
> We live in a finite world. Infinite growth is IMPOSSIBLE.


And you figure that repeating it and putting it in all capital letters will
magically make it true?

I mean, damn, there's, what, $5 worth of raw material in the computer you're
looking at now? There was maybe $5 worth in the first PC too. So,
basically we have a case of growth with no increase in input.

Since growth doesn't require increasing inputs, finite inputs don't limit
growth.




>> Here is something for you to think about-
>>
>> The raw materials in a $500,000 Ferrari and a $10,000 Geo Metro cost
>> about
>> the same.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here is something else for you to think about-
>>
>> When you buy a soda, you prefer the soda to the money, and you are made
>> better off.
>>
>> When a merchant sells a soda, he prefers the money to the soda and he is
>> made better off.
>>
>> We have growth with no increase in resources.
>
> Nonsense. It's just a redistribution of resources.


It is growth in welfare. Both parties are better off, but no resources have
been consumed.

Economics is *not* a zero sum game.



> In the case of
> metal, it goes from being in the ground (where it's not being used) to
> being used to build something. Eventually there comes a tipping point
> where resources can be depleted.


Except that even in your example no resource has been depleted. All that
happened is that it was moved from one place to another.



> Money is an artificial human invention, BTW. It matters not how much
> money the gub'mint prints up, if a certain metal is depleted, it's
> gone. Period.


But what do you claim to deplete? Moving something from one place to
another doesn't deplete it. It still exists.





> Geology will ALWAYS trump economics.


Actually, economics trumps everything.


.

Relevant Pages

  • GDP is a dishonest measure of progress (was: Re: Need help with a GDP calculation problem...)
    ... Money tricks people into thinking that GDP/GNP growth can continue ... turned back into pristine resources. ... but economists pretend it "could ...
    (sci.econ)
  • Re: Dont tell Shawn, but...
    ... Infinite growth is IMPOSSIBLE. ... A tiny fraction of those resources was used ... >>> When a merchant sells a soda, he prefers the money to the soda and he is ... > another doesn't deplete it. ...
    (rec.games.frp.dnd)
  • Re: limits to growth: a report to the club of rome
    ... > ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS ... > 1972 under the title The Limits to Growth. ... > resources on which the industrial base depends. ... as well as a cessation of economic growth. ...
    (sci.fractals)
  • Re: limits to growth: a report to the club of rome
    ... > ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE ECONOMICS ... > 1972 under the title The Limits to Growth. ... > resources on which the industrial base depends. ... as well as a cessation of economic growth. ...
    (sci.nonlinear)
  • THE POPULATION EXPLOSION
    ... overpopulation is thought of simply ... growth in the United States: "If all the people from China and India ... resources ... The amount of resources each person consumes, ...
    (alt.politics.bush)