The purpose of the economic system is to allocate it's scarce resources. Since the resources are scarce (limited) something must be sacrificed to obtain something else. That is why nothing is free (there is no such thing as a free lunch). To use a resource for one thing is to not use it for another.
In a famous speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, William Jennings Bryan declared that mankind should not be "crucified on a cross of gold."
