Posted on 11/30/2012 12:29:35 PM PST by 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.
Who in their right mind would want to bring a baby in to this obamanation??????????????????????????????
Guess the marriage/child bearing boycott is working in the young caucasian male community. They may be finally figuring out that they have zero rights once they say “I do” and decide to start a family due to a complicit “family” court which condones zapping and eliminating (mostly) white fathers from the family unit.
but to boost our population size by admitting more working-age, productive immigrants.
Mexican illegal immigrants are not productive. They are net takers. They are dependents.
Which means to us conservatives still of childrearing years...have more kids!
With a reduced population, even with limited infrastructural growth, opportunites will abound for the next generation, in not only jobs (particularly the technical ones), but in cheaper land and housing as well.
Who better to take advantage of this than the properly raised and educated offspring of conservatives?
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.
.... because the responsible, hard-working people are taxed to death and have to work 2 jobs to be able to give the kids what they need. And they are paying the tab for the irresponsible slobs who don’t have to work and don’t pay taxes.
It’s very bad news.
This is why Europe has ended up with a ton of Muslim immigrants.
The problem is that, now that abortion for expediency is the law of the land, people will only have children if they feel positive and hopeful about the future.
Under Obama, they don’t.
Spoken like the liberal RINO that Linda Chavez is.
What male in their right mind wants to father children in today’s feminist-dominated legal system? A woman can divorce you without any reason, and as long as she isn’t a crack whore, she’s almost certainly going to get primary custody. She’ll be able to get your assets attached for child support and sometimes alimony, and if you contest a child support payment, you lose any professional license you have.
If she invents a BS domestic violence complaint, you lose your right to own guns and you’re looking at 10’s of thousands in legal fees to get your name cleared.
Men are only responding to what women have been telling them: It makes no sense to buy a cow when you can get all the free milk you want.
And the cows like it that way.
Linda Chavez is just upset that Mexicans are still pouring in — and those who are here are having far fewer babies. So, her dream of turning American into a Hispanic nation of peasants who can be easily manipulated by politicians has to be put on hold.
Linda Chavez is just upset that Mexicans are not still pouring in — and those who are here are having far fewer babies. So, her dream of turning American into a Hispanic nation of peasants who can be easily manipulated by politicians has to be put on hold.
Introduce "Western Family Court" rules/laws to the Muslims and see their population drop to nill. Right now, under Sharia law, the father has all the rights, the mother, none. Reverse that like it is in the Western hemisphere and problem solved--which would be more sooner done than revising Western Family Court and the cottage divorce industry which is a huge cash cow (especially for BLUE states; google: Title IV-D)
People who have bought into the two child or less lifestyle are denying themselves a great deal of fun!
I was raised in a family of only two sons and I was the oldest. I always felt deprived because there weren’t a lot of siblings to play with. It wasn’t until a lot of children moved into my neighborhood that I was really happy as a child — and that was a long time ago. Luckily I had relatives who had lots of children and I enjoyed visiting them the most.
I have 5, 3 are grown and 2 are at the edge of the nest, and I am tired.
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