The growth fostered by market rationalization is, of course, theoretically unending. It claims ever more energy and natural resources. Capitalist growth threatens sustainability, adequacy, and abundance wherever it encounters them. Clean water, fisheries, and healthful air are all subject to degradation and scarcity. The ecological basis of all complex life on our planet is at risk.
Economic development is the corollary of growth.
Most participants in the free trade debate are firmly in favor of it, although in different forms. The condition of this economic progress is an increasingly integrated global economy where every community's material provisioning depends on geographically extensive economic networks. Progressives have in mind schemes strikingly similar to those of the free marketers, only progressive development is more managed and responsible. To their credit, free trade critics envision a more humane development than does Washington. Progressive free trade critics make persuasive arguments.