HELP!!! Babies wanted (emphasis mine):Here's some good news for the US:
In his 2004 book, "The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It," Phillip Longman exploded one of the planet's most enduring modern myths. He demonstrated that population growth is not the threat that it has been made out to be and that population decline is the real challenge ahead of us.
By the time of the book's publication, many developed nations were already struggling to address the obvious result of falling fertility: What to do when so few babies are being born that eventually there won't be enough workers to sustain your country's economy, let alone support the elderly?
Falling birthrates are a concern for more than just the most prosperous countries, too. Along with all of Europe, Japan and Canada, Mr. Longman notes, China and parts of the Middle East are experiencing population loss. Russia is in one of the most dramatic demographic tailspins. Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the government will pay mothers about $9,200 to have a second child.
What a change from only a few decades ago, when conventional wisdom had it that the only route to prosperity was smaller families. In 1968, biologist Paul Ehrlich famously predicted that hundreds of millions of people would starve to death in the 1970s and '80s thanks to overpopulation. Not only have Mr. Ehrlich's proposals not been borne out, but there is no evidence that overpopulation has ever been at the root of poverty. As economist Thomas Sowell has noted, there is no country that had a higher standard of living when its population was half of what it is today.
Oddly, economic opportunity turns out to be an astoundingly effective form of birth control. When people don't need to use children as worker bees in a desperate struggle to survive, and--more important--when they can imagine a secure future for their offspring, they tend to plan families with fewer children in the hope of showering each with more advantages.
Interestingly, I am friends with eight couples (all Americans and all religious) who have "buns in the oven". One couple who is currently expecting their first, four couples expecting their second, two expecting their third, and yet another thier fourth! All doing their part to help make America great! "Uncle Brian" couldn't be more excited!
Thanks in part to immigration, the U.S. is not facing a population deficit. Other factors are at work, too. This country has a high rate of religious belief, which usually corresponds to a higher birthrate, as well as a general sense of optimism. On the practical side, the U.S. has a tax regime that is not too crushing and, at present at least, a job market ready to absorb the next generation. All these things encourage parents to indulge a natural desire to raise children.
With its cradle still full, the U.S. is in effect seconding Mr. Longman's theme. Our thriving economy is testimony to the fact that human beings, so long demonized as the ultimate threat to the planet, are its most indispensable resource.
Also, see my previous post on "Be Fruitful and Multiply".
No comments:
Post a Comment