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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (7247)	9/22/2003 10:57:09 AM
From: willcousa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

I disagree. When the economy goes to hell and people are out of work the productivity gains that occur are lost in the noise but still contribute to real growth. Going to a Scandinavian type socialist economy works only to postpone the inevitable as the Swedes are learning. (Norway is a different animal because of North Sea oil)

To: Sam Citron who wrote (7247)	9/22/2003 1:01:23 PM
From: Cary Salsberg	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25522

RE: "productivity gains are responsible for all real growth" We live on a planet with generally fixed resources and we receive a generally fixed external energy input. "Real growth" in an evolutionary sense has meant an increase in biomass and biodiversity. Specialization and adaptation are the evolutionary mechanisms and they may be looked at as "produtivity gains". I know we are talking about economics, but while terms like "real growth" and "productivity" are useful measures for time sensitive comparison within the definitions of the economic system they may not be sufficient for this "philosophical" level of discussion. "Real growth" in economic terms can be produced by population increases without a change in productivity. This kind of growth negatively impacts the segment of world ecology that is not included in current economic measures. In my larger view it is impossible to "have tremendous strides in productivity with no accompanying real growth", because "real growth" without the destruction of the whole is the definition of "productivity gains".