[ijidak]

Well, wait. Not taking sides on any particular economic system. But...

The global population is growing, correct?

So there should be at least some minimal growth to keep up with population growth, no?

Otherwise, if there is zero economic growth but a growing population, doesn't that imply increasing poverty?

[lordgrenville]

I think this is correct, and answers the common question of "how do we expect growth to go on indefinitely?" It follows from this that as we get to the stage where the global population starts to shrink we will not require constant growth. Of course then we will have the serious issue of how to fund people past retirement age as population shrinks.

[gmueckl]

Funding retirement in an inverted age pyramid is not a theoretical problem. Germany is facing this problem already and it is going to get much, much worse in the next 10 years.

As a side note, this inverted age pyramid aligns partially with a unbalanced power distribution as old people outvote younger generations and their interests by a wide margin.

[lordgrenville]

Yeah. I didn't mean to imply this is only a future problem, just that it will most likely eventually affect the entire global population.