7. Economic growth. Costs of economic growth.

If you spent all the money you have now, you might be able to buy many of things you want. However, by saving some now, you will save more for the future. Societies also must save some of what they produce today in order to have more for tomorrow. Every society must produce capital goods as well as consumer goods to meet future economic needs,

Everyone who works contributes to the growth of capital resources. People’s labour must be valuable enough to earn more that just the money to cover wages. When the manager bills the customers for the work you did, the amount will cover the company’s costs and also be invested in capital resources. When a company uses its money to buy new equipment, it expects future returns from it to justify the purchase.

In recent years, many people have argued that economic growth is a mixed blessing. Talking about advantages, the average standard of living goes up as people produce more goods and services. Growth also keeps people employed and earning income. Growth provides the government with additional tax revenues, which enable it to spend more on programs for education, medical care, national defense and others.

However, there are 4 disadvantages: use of natural resources that cannot be replaced; generation of waste products; destruction of natural environments; uneven growth among different groups of society.

In the past, growth has allowed poor people to improve their economic conditions. During periods of growth, people have felt optimistic about their future. But continuing economic growth today may damage our world, polluting air, land and waters, and using up natural resources. In considering the benefits and problems of growth, it is necessary to recall that to survive, every economy needs people, capital and natural resources that depend on one another. If these resources are overused to promote economic growth now, future growth may be much slower.

8. Costs of economic growth. Labor problems

In recent years, many people have argued that economic growth is a mixed blessing. Besides the advantages, there are disadvantages-use of natural resources that cannot be replaced, generation of waste products, destruction of natural environments, uneven growth among different groups of society.

There is one more problem that is called labor problem. In the past, growth has allowed poor people to improve their economic conditions. During periods of growth, people have felt optimistic about their future. At the time of growth the old equipment is replaced with the new one, and many workers become redundant because their work is not required. For example, the introduction of computer typesetting spelled unemployment for many machine operators. The research showed that the computerization spells unemployment on one hand but makes a lot of jobs easier on the other. Those who lost their jobs in this connection find full or part-time employment or take retraining programs. But another research studied what happened to a number of families when employment of typesetters was reduced due to the computerization. It showed that many workers continued to seek employment. Many tried retraining programs, but found that employers were reluctant to hire older, experienced persons as beginners. However none of the operators under 40 years of age obtained a high-paying job, many of the workers had taken odd jobs. Retraining probably is more useful to the young man than to the old.