The Economist’s columnist Buttonwood argues in the February 11, 2011 issue that there is no need to encourage older workers to retire to provide job opportunities for younger people.
The real fallacy and myth in this column is the statement that “growth depends on having either more workers or greater productivity.”
Growth also depends upon having the resources and energy to make things and deliver services.. The columnist is right when says when people work for a living they earn money and spend it on goods and services produced by other people. However, when we work we also use up the planets resources and energy.
There may be lots of resources and energy left but we have used up the most readily available and the easiest to extract.
This is probably the reason for the worldwide recession which is probably going to get even worse.
So far it appears more young people are feeling the effects of the recession than are older people. It wouldn’t hurt the give some of them a break.
Filed under: General | Tagged: economic growth, energy recession, fallacy, job opportunities, myth, productivity growth, resources, retirement, worldwide recession |
It is wrong to think that with respect to resources “we have used up the most readily available and the easiest to extract.”