> ta nc.rr.com> wrote in
> news:6c4c4d54-87d5-4313-9bfd-153347442db4@m45g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:
>

>> The bottom line is that the earth contains a finite amount of natural
>> resources. All humans can maintain a high standard of living with
>> those existing finite resources indefinitely if we so choose, but
>> we're obviously using/destroying more than is being replenished.

>
> Well, no, ta. The extent of the earth's "resources" is not the bottom
> line.
> In the first place, a natural material is not a "resource" until someone
> discovers it, discovers an economical way to recover it, and discovers a
> use for it.
>
> Secondly, the extent of resources --- I mean those materials with known
> uses and available for use --- has nothing to do with how high a standard
> of living "all humans" can maintain. Whether any particular person can
> maintain a high standard of living depends upon his own skills and efforts
> in discovering and recovering those resources, or in producing other goods
> he can trade to their discoverers and recoverers for them. He has no *a
> priori* "share" in them, and they do not owe him a living.
>