Fewer Babies Born is Bad News for America

Townhall.com ^ | November 30, 2012 | Linda Chavez

[Kaslin]

The old adage "be careful what you wish for" is an apt reminder in light of this week's news that the U.S. birthrate has dropped to its lowest level on record. For years, population hysterics have tried to convince Americans to aim not just for zero population growth in the U.S. but its complete reversal.

Many of the groups pushing this view have also been in the forefront of the anti-immigration movement -- NumbersUSA, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and Negative Population Growth (NPG). They don't like immigrants -- even legal ones -- because immigrants, especially Hispanic immigrants, traditionally have had higher birth rates than the native born. But the new report from the Pew Research Center suggests that even among Hispanic immigrants, birth rates are falling quickly. So why is this a problem?

Contrary to the agenda pushed by the aforementioned neo-Malthusian groups, a declining population can spell real economic trouble in the future. As populations in advanced countries age, more people become dependents rather than contributors to the economy. Especially in nations that provide a social safety net, such as Social Security and Medicare in the U.S., the ability to fund these programs depends on population growth among younger, working-age people.

Declining population means fewer tax dollars to pay for everything from Social Security to national defense. As the base of taxpayers shrinks, the government will either have to reduce benefits and spending on essential programs or take a larger share of workers' incomes to pay for them. But the latter approach -- raising taxes -- will only make the problem worse. If people get to keep less of the money they earn, productivity declines and revenues fall. It's human nature.

Other countries with declining birthrates, most notably Japan, are paying the price already. Economic growth in these countries has slowed -- Japan, once considered a threat to American economic dominance, has experienced two decades of slowed growth. It is no coincidence that Japan also has one of the world's strictest immigration policies. They allow temporary workers but neither their integration nor the granting of citizenship to their children born on Japanese soil.

The U.S., on the other hand, traditionally has been generous in terms of immigration. The inflow of newcomers, who are younger, entering the workforce, and more likely to give birth to children than native-born Americans, has made our economy more dynamic and ensured a future funding source for programs for our aging, dependent, native-born population.

But the dismal economy of the last four years has discouraged immigrants. Mexicans, who for years have been the largest group of immigrants to the U.S., are no longer coming in vast numbers. Last year, net immigration from Mexico fell to zero for the first time since the Great Depression. And those immigrants already here are choosing to have far fewer children. The overall American birthrate fell by 8 percent between 2007 and 2010, but the birthrate among Mexican immigrant women fell by 23 percent.

The decision by immigrant women to have fewer children is not only rational during an economic downturn, it is a sign of their assimilation to American norms. They are emulating the decisions of American women to have smaller families to invest more in raising each child. The solution to the problem of declining birthrates is not to encourage the women already living here to have more babies, but to boost our population size by admitting more working-age, productive immigrants.

Without a continued influx of such immigrants, America will become poorer, not richer. Not only will millions of hard-working people be denied the opportunity to make their lives better, but Americans will lose out on the benefits of a growing economy.

[utahagen]

I understand completely why working people aren’t having as many children. I am praying that many of them have many children anyway, as a gift to the world. We need good people to have children. If every working married couple had even one more child than they had planned to — have three children, instead of two, for example — this country may start to turn around.

[Gene Eric]

Doubtful we’d be in this position of the 50+ million noobs weren’t killed off through “choice”.

[rmlew]

Racial activist, former labor activist, adn ersatz conservative Chavez is hysterical that not enough immigrants are having anchor babies. As if more poor people will keep ponzi schemes afloat.

[impimp]

I would.

[tom h]

"Fewer Babies Born is Bad News for America"

Fewer babies is part of the same cultural shift that elected Barack Obama. Can't tell you the number of people who know who care more about their vacations, their cars and homes, and their figures than in having children. We all hear their excuses: "I don't want screw up any children like my parents screwed me up." B.S. These folks are just too self-centered to care about the USA after they kick the bucket.

"Mexican illegal immigrants are not productive. They are dependents."

I don't necessarily disagree with you but have heart, my friend. If we can shut down illegal immigration, send many of them home (with whatever deal we get from the Congress) and finally assimilate those that are already here, you will find that Hispanics make fine Americans. They start businesses, are socially conservative (meaning they will one day be Republicans), they are loyal to the country, and the men make d-mn tough Marines.

Why do you think Texas is so strongly GOP, when it's demographics are similar to California? Because the Hispanics that made it are voting Republican. The CULTURE of Texas makes them that way.

Intermarriage will also eliminate the predisposition of Hispanics to be takers. Example: my daughter is in college and in her freshman dorm there were a number of other kids with Hispanic names like Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Martinez, etc. In spite of their names, these kids were all Caucasian and 100% all-American, meaning a Hispanic father and a white mother, producing white offspring. I think the intermarriage rate of assimilated Hispanics is over 50%.

I for one am not worried about Hispanics , but we must stop the influx first. Also stop giving citizenship to the kids of illegals.

[Mrs. Don-o]

People do have babies under less-than-optimal circumstances. Often because they expect most of life's long-term satisfactions to come from family relationships, and not from the accumulation of property.

Even for the poor, children provide the incentive to make something of your life. Children, to a large extent, make life worth living.

[tom h]

"Fewer Babies Born is Bad News for America"

The impact of extremely low birthrates is not only economic but cultural.

After two generations of close to 1.0 children per woman, here's the result:

* Every child has no first cousins.

* Every child has no aunts or uncles.

* Every grandparent has only one grandchild.

Think for a moment of the impact of this. Big family gatherings at Christmas would be a thing of the past. Elderly people would have virtually no grandchildren to spoil or purchase gifts for. It would be a lifeless culture, to say the least, without small children, tiny voices, and bustling schools.

Incidentally, this is close to happening in Italy, Portugal, and Greece. The birthrates are close to 1.2 after about forty years. And do you think citizens of these countries will be spawning babies after their governments finally collapse due to excessive social spending?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

**Actually whites are the only ones in the USA who are not having babies at a replacement rate, all the others are spitting them out copiously.***

Several years ago my Sister-in-law, a sub teacher, walked past a group of Hispanic teachers talking at a Texas school. One of the teachers said in a very loud voice...”We are taking back Texas, one child at a time!”

[SamuraiScot]

Fewer Babies Born is . . .

. . . good news for conservatives who have babies. Conservatives become a bigger proportion of the population, the more liberals have face-lifts instead of kids. You could call it the Darwinian revenge of God-fearing people. Liberalism leads to demographic extinction for liberals.

[kabar]

We can't take legal Mexican immigrants, most of whom are poor, uneducated, and unskilled. 25% of the adult legal immigrants who enter this country each year lack even a high school degree. And 57% of immigrant headed households with children are on at least one major welfare program.

Immigrant Welfare: The New Colossus Are the huddled masses yearning to breathe free or eat free?

[Jack Chance]

People who have bought into the two child or less lifestyle are denying themselves a great deal of fun!

I have no children, nor any wish for them in the future.To those who desire large families, by all means have at it...as long as you aren't being supported by The State.

[livius]

Sorry, I don’t think we have to go to a marriage law where women are cattle or breeding animals, as they are under Islamic law.

Christian marriage has always been good for both men and women.

The state, on the other hand, is all about the dissolution of the family and the interpretation of the individual as an isolated economic unit.

That’s what we’ve got to fight against.

[livius]

Children really do make life worth living, even at its darkest moments.

I wish more people realized this.

[tumblindice]

“Without a continued influx of such immigrants, America will become poorer, not richer.”
Most of us are willing to take that chance, Linda, but the hits just keep on coming.
She’s a Mexican Bund mouthpiece.

[kabar]

I don't necessarily disagree with you but have heart, my friend. If we can shut down illegal immigration, send many of them home (with whatever deal we get from the Congress) and finally assimilate those that are already here, you will find that Hispanics make fine Americans. They start businesses, are socially conservative (meaning they will one day be Republicans), they are loyal to the country, and the men make d-mn tough Marines.

LEGAL IMMIGRATION is the real problem. The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 46 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest level in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.

We bring in 1.2 million LEGAL IMMIGRANTS EVERY YEAR--87% of whom are minorities as defined by the USG. 25% of the adults lack even a high school degree and three quarters have a high school degree or less.

Hispanics have an out of wedlock birthrate of 50% and the highest school dropout rate of any group. They are natural Dem constituents. They use welfare to a much higher degree than natives.

Why do you think Texas is so strongly GOP, when it's demographics are similar to California? Because the Hispanics that made it are voting Republican. The CULTURE of Texas makes them that way.

Texas is changing. It will follow CA demographically and then electorally. It is just a matter of time.

There were five majority-minority states or equivalents in 2011: Hawaii (77.1 percent minority), the District of Columbia (64.7 percent), California (60.3 percent), New Mexico (59.8 percent) and Texas (55.2 percent). No other state had a minority population greater than 46.4 percent of the total.

Intermarriage will also eliminate the predisposition of Hispanics to be takers. Example: my daughter is in college and in her freshman dorm there were a number of other kids with Hispanic names like Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Martinez, etc. In spite of their names, these kids were all Caucasian and 100% all-American, meaning a Hispanic father and a white mother, producing white offspring. I think the intermarriage rate of assimilated Hispanics is over 50%.

Hispanics can be of any race. 53% self-identify as white. But our laws incentivize Hispanics to identify as a minority. Affirmative action and minority business set asides encourage group indentity, no matter how slight.

Minorities and immigrants vote Democrat two to one. The Reps are delusional if they think they will get the majority of their vote. By 2042 half of the country will be minorities.

[stevem]

I think making a baby is an act of love AND an act of faith.

Which do you think are lacking in the United States...or are both?

You must remember this...a kiss a still a kiss...a sigh is just a sigh...the fundamental things apply...as time goes by...

[skeeter]

The drop in babies birthed correlates to immigrants, presumably illegal, going back down south of the border where there are jobs.

And no Linda, its not bad news for the USA.

[garbanzo]

Putting aside the immigration issue for the moment, fewer people means unless there is a corresponding increase in productivity, declining GDP something that no policy maker can truly fix. With that means debt default is more or less inevitable.

[tumblindice]

The only part of your post I agree with is `we must stop the influx first’.
Chavez’s and your `It’s A Wonderful Life’ anecdotes are all very heartwarming, especially this time of the year, but those damned facts are stubborn things, hmmm?

Since the author is pounding on demography, I believe it worth pointing out that Mark Steyn mentions Europe’s experience with importing immigrants to do the work that the children the French, Dutch and English failed to have are (of course) not doing.
They found themselves with substantial, discrete sub-cultures living among them that had figured out the wonders of the welfare state. And they become surly, demanding and militant. By those things I mean: running riot/burning cars, assaulting, intimidating older citizens/women, and actually setting aside portions of the cities as Sharia governed and not subject to the laws of their host countries.
So Ms. Chavez is confusing immigration with human host-parasitism when she mentions legal immigrants and illegals in the same sentence, as she does above.

The remainder of your rose-colored view of the ongoing invasion isn’t at all helpful in addressing the overriding problem that you recognize and that Obama seems determined to solve with a blanket amnesty, if he could to it with a stroke of the pen.
I will say this for the GOP: They held firm in refusing to participate in “comprehensive immigration reform” (SEE: “amnesty”) albeit, as we held their feet to the fire.

[skeeter]

Putting aside the immigration issue for the moment, fewer people means unless there is a corresponding increase in productivity, declining GDP something that no policy maker can truly fix. With that means debt default is more or less inevitable.

This assumes that all working age people are more or less productive. But we know many millions in this country are a net drag.