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Walter E. Williams: Overpopulation isn't to blame for economic despair
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Australia has about the same population as California. Australians have excess to education. You don't see Aussies clawing their way to the States.
Look at India. India has a huge population. Maybe, one in 20,000 attends college. Yes, India is doing better. India has more engineering grads than the US. The average people in India may earn $1.20 a day.
I'm thinking most people in China and India would disagree.
If everyone lived like the average American, we'd have some serious problems.
We're seeing some of those problems right now, as China builds more and more cars, using more steel and more oil. Demand for steel and oil increase, and prices go up.
Imagine if everyone in the world owned a car. Even if we did find another way to power them, steel prices would still be horribly expensive.
The population explosion is one of them.
All major social problems stem from overpopulation one way or another.
Less is more.
You need to understand that greed is not limited to the private sector. It is most egregious and dangerous when manifested by government entities such as Mugabe's and Stalin's administrations.
To Liberal Larry, Aldo,et.al. You make the mistake of assuming that technology will not improve as population increases - same mistake that Malthus made. Yes, we might run out of steel - but it will be replace by something else just as steel replaced wood. Or perhaps someone will come up with a new method to produce it economically.
With the largest families in America, it isn't difficult to understand why they insist no such population explosion with subsequent social problems exist.
In a modern industrial society, on the other hand children are cost centers. They're expensive to feed, house, medicate, and educate. You can "take your daughter to work," but most people can't actually *put* their daughters to work in their workplace. Then there's the opportunity cost of taking time away from work to raise a child; the richer you are, the more money you forego. With all these considerations, it's no surprise that virtually all developed nations have experienced drastic declines in fertility over the past fifty years -- in most cases, to below the replacement level.
The United States' population is still growing due to immigration and (relatively) higher fertility among immigrants from less-developed countries.
Pension plans and social security systems worldwide are based on the assumption that populations will grow. Population decline in the developed world will be a major challenge in coming years.
"The United States' population is still growing due to immigration and (relatively) higher fertility among immigrants from less-developed countries. "
Nice try Thomas, but this would be better served in an anti-illegal immigrant blog.
Walter Williams has to write trash like this to keep his bank account lubricated. O'Reilly can't be objective or he would have to get a real job. Rush need Obama to support his life style. Savage must bash liberal to afford living and dinning in San Francisco.
There the economics of exposing hate to Americans who feel victimize and need a emotional release by nor taking personal accountability for their lives.
It's the decline of the economic resource available to the average American that has created the environment for this hatred to fester.
Rush and Fox won't tell you. Global resources are finite. American's once control most the resources on earth. They only way for the rest of earth's humanity to move up is for you to get a smaller share of the global pie. Welcome to life in the Third World.
What part of math don't you understand? What is it with liberals an inconvenient truths?
Just more neocon racist drivel and a passing attempt to cover for the baby-makers and way too high birth rate in the reddest and most fertile state in America.
And these same people will tell you WMD's were found in Iraq but the government is keeping it secret.
Is it November yet?
"All major social problems stem from overpopulation one way or another."
Right our are. See YouTube's "Immigration Gumballs" for a logical presentation of overpopulation via immigration.
"And these same people will tell you WMD's were found in Iraq but the government is keeping it secret."
Even Saddam believed he had WMD. How could we think otherwise?
"Is it November yet?"
Please note that the election has been changed to the first Tuesday in December.
"As nations develop into modern industrial societies, the incentive to have large families tends to drop dramatically.
***
With all these considerations, it's no surprise that virtually all developed nations have experienced drastic declines in fertility over the past fifty years -- in most cases, to below the replacement level.
***
Population decline in the developed world will be a major challenge in coming years."
As a side note, civilizations/societies with higher birth rates (forced or otherwise) will one day populate/control/rule the world. Some Hispanic advocates have said as much.
Once America was the largest exporter of food. Today America imports food. The ability to grown more food in less space as slowed.
How many years of drought can Utah or any Western state take without serious impact?
In nature it works like this. Populations will expand until they consume all their resources than population collapse.
Studies conducted on the effects of over population showed higher population densities increased antisocial behavior.
You may not like it; you may huff and puff about "nativism," etc., but it is what it is.
In time these will be discovered, the pace of discovery has accelerated and shown no sign of abating.
You can blame the culture that raised you that way.
That graduating class that seems so large this year will be even larger next year.
We are officially in the age of overbreed.
But sounding the alarm to conservatives falls on deaf ears everytime thinking the data presented is merely a poltical ploy (they should know).
Your kind throws the "racism" tag around at the drop of a hat. It only intimidates fellow liberals, who've been conditioned to view racism as the ultimate sin, as opposed to just one more species of human nastiness. I would consider myself lacking in character is your kind *didn't* accuse me of racism -- because that would only be impossible if I remained properly cowed from discussing difficult facts.
Overpopulation is *so* seventies. The real demographic problem is the aging of developed societies, not their overpopulation. It's going to have a huge effect on Social Security and Medicare, for starters. But the "forward to the past" gang is too ideologically hide-bound to notice, and accordingly has no solutions to offer.
His culture is big on having the largest families on the face of the earth (for some obscure reason) so I understand his oversensivity to a very real problem.
However, I know many, many people who have escaped from that culture and are thriving.
Inadequate fresh water
Depletion of natural resources
Deforestation and loss of ecosystems
Changes in atmospheric composition and consequent global warming
Mass species extinctions
new epidemics and pandemics
Poverty coupled with inflation
increased levels of warfare
Elevated crime rate
Your logic and fluency (not to mention remaining composed) put your arguments above the rest in ways that those who oppose you here can't even recognize well enough to be envious of.
No thanks for the condescension, though. That's the thanks I and my fellow odd "breeders" get for making the babies you'll need to tax for your Social Security benefits.
The ingratitude of some people!
By the way extinction sare natural who are you intervene in nature.
None of what yuy have listed is caused by overpopulation.
There was pandemics and epidemics before had large population.
We had poverty in all times in history, hence not a result of over population.
We have more clean water than antime in history thanks to t3echnology. Water is not clean whether we polullute or not. IN the past IT actually more dangerous to drink water, hence drinking of wines beers ciders, ales mead etc. IT was safer.
and you can similarly go on disproving every item on your list.
but you can believe the lies if you want, just because a college professor told so, or read it in a book, or read on the internet, does not make it true.
Notice the complete silence on "Effects of overpopulation" Anonymous 4:22
Coupled with the dominant culture's bizarre persecution complex, all arguments eventually deteriorate into an "anti-mormon" spiel. Subtle or otherwise.
And from here on data coming from Wikipedia (where the effects of overpopulation were snatched from) shall hereby be declared as null and void. :>
But thanks for the commitment to keeping things civil and rational. Shall we go back there, then?
Excessive fertility among native-born Americans is not a substantial contribution to any problems that may arise from overpopulation. Discuss.
There would be no problem in this world if there were no government, only anarchy, which allowed uncontrolled greed to profit in a sham "free market."
What drivel. Williams is always entertaining for his little trips down lunacy lane.
What will be the next great energy source? Nuclear has a bright future in those countries that recycle instead of throwing the fuel out like a dead battery as we do. Coal liquefaction? Inexpensive solar cell ink? Most of the world�s grain and vegetable crops did not exist in nature in their current form but are the product of mankind's ingenuity. For a good read get a copy of "1491" by Charles Mann. It is a history of the bounty and industry of the native peoples in the western hemisphere before they got messed up with Europeans.
Forgive me. I�m still a recovering optimist.
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But his thesis is still right. This planet is obviously capable of supporting many times over the population we have now. We're just still figuring out how to manager ourselves in a way that won't destroy the planet and/or us.
But we will figure it out.
As he points out, the strides made thus far were unimaginable just decades ago.