Consider this: Japanese GDP growth from 1990 to 2000 — Japan's so-called lost decade — was just 0.2 percent less than America's when you account for increases in the U. S. population.
So you see a great divergence where the wealthier states are growing faster and the poorer states are growing slower - so the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.
What's more, though the economy added 117, 000 jobs, it falls short of the 150, 000 jobs a month needed just to keep up with population growth and prevent the unemployment rate from trending higher.
The need for more energy to power larger cities and economic growth therein leads to the construction of dams, the consequent flooding of ecosystems, and increased emissions of pollutants.
What's more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast that meeting it will require an extra 300 million tons of grain a year by 2050.
They also argued that measures of productivity ignore what would have happened without investments in IT—productivity gains might have been even lower.
Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment than their parents, UCLA sociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don't continue.