Posted: Oct 05, 2013 7:33 pm
FACT-MAN-2 wrote:When politicians or economists chant their mantra -- we must GROW the economy -- they implicitly assume that our economy can growexponentially into perpetuity.
I'm sceptical. A politician that thinks beyond the next election cycle or so is rare, economic forecasts and growth plans seldom extend beyond a decade or so at their most far sighted.
I think we can all duff up this argument that infinite growth is probably not going to work, the only question is whether we cut our knuckles on the straw in the process.
Yet, at this seemingly modest rate, the size of the economy doubles every 22 years, quadrupling in 44 years, and expanding by a factor of 8 in less than three generations. Such growth demands commensurate doubling, quadrupling, and octupling of the energy sources and raw materials that feed the economy.
This one isn't true either.