152
evident that many aspiring nations are poor and will
likely remain so. Moreover, the idea that technology
works a sort of magic that can yield great benefits
to everyone simply is not true. Some improvement
might be gained, but even that may not he much; at
least insofar as increased production requires adequate
resources. Some may grow substantially, but not all.
There simply are not enough resources to go around,
and those who would develop now may have come too late.
We do not really know the limiting factor. I
think we can demonstrate, for instance, that in
all probability the presently under-developed
countries are not going to develop. There is not
enough of enormous numbers of elements which are
essential to the developed economy. Xf the whole
world developed to American standards overnight,
we would run out of everything in less than ten
years.(U)
Developed countries like the United States were
fortunate to gain access to vast stores of mineral
deposits when they did since minerals tend to move to
established markets and processing centers where capital
5
and skilled labor are found. By exploiting minerals
deposits early, developed countries established
productive centers and markets that could make best use
of those that remain. The situation is not so fortunate
Kenneth E. Boulding, ,rFun and Games with the
Gross National Product," in The Environmental Crises,
ed. by Harold W. HeIfrich (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1970), p. 166.
5
Thus, for example, oil from Alaska is brought
to the continental United States; iron from Venezuela
and Minnesota moves to Pittsburgh and thence to other
producing and consuming centers.