America's drive for acreage (Smart Growth not wanted)

The News and Observer (Raleigh NC) ^ | 04/24/02 | Rick Martinez

[GovernmentShrinker]

Only with a huge influx of cash from other parts of the world.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'd call it a good start, but there are still too many forces working at cross-purposes. Religious missionaries who tell people there'e no reason to limit their families is one of the problems, and it sounds so believable coming from people who already have plenty of food, medical care, housing, etc. -- it's awfully hard for the impoverished people of third world to grasp that it won't work the same way for them. And then there's the bigger problem that in many third world countries, women are still being forced to reproduce involuntarily. It doesn't do any good for outsiders to convince them they want fewer children and provide contraceptives, when their husbands own them like cattle and force them to be broodmares. Freedom is not just a necessary condition for economic development, it's also a necessary condition for population stabilization.

[Alas Babylon!]

Well, I think a case can be made that the VAST majority of taxes PAID in this country, Federal, state, and local, are paid by suburbanites. So at least they get something back.

[Age of Reason]

This is another good example of why zero population growth is an important goal. People just plain don't WANT to live crammed together wherever "planners" can "fit" them. Everybody can obviously survive in the "smart growth" type housing, but few people are happy there.

Absolutely.

And we already have near zero population growth among existing Americans.

Most of America's population growth and resultant crowding stems from immigration.

[Age of Reason]

The entire worlds population could live in Texas. Broken up into families of 4, each family would get nearly and acre of land.

Why waste a whole acre on four people?

Prisons need only 100 square feet for a "family" of two.

How strange to equate crowding with punishment and loss of freedom!

[Age of Reason]

If we wanted zero population growth, we would move to Communist China.

Actually, all we have to do is not let China and the rest of the world immigrate here.

[FITZ]

where birth rates are well above replacement rate, are areas where the population is being heavily subsidized by welfare, foreign aid, etc.

Yes, the government should not be paying anyone to have babies but it shouldn't try to limit responsible people from having any number of children. We have too many single young drop outs having babies and who expect working people to provide a living for them.

[FITZ]

The doom and gloom predictions of the population growth fear mongers have ALL failed to materalize. NONE of their predictions have ever come true.

Maybe some of the predictions are coming true. Look at Africa- millions of people have died the past couple decades and Middle Easterners who have 20 kids per woman are leaving their regions to invade others.

I don't believe in population control but it seems that the growth of the poverty stricken classes and middle classes everywhere are struggling. There are some quality of life issues too ---before Americans could go camping and enjoy the outdoors but now it takes a 3 month reservation to get a tent site in many parts of the country.

[Phantom Lord]

before Americans could go camping and enjoy the outdoors but now it takes a 3 month reservation to get a tent site in many parts of the country.

Guess why. Increase in lifestyles and quality of life. A larger middle class with more disposable income to spend on luxuries such as camping.

And what is killing millions in Africa? AIDS and war.

[Centurion2000]

big, roomy, and cheap" home is an oxymoron

Ever checked the rural residential areas 50+ miles outside of cities ? You can make a killing there with your urban money.

[Phantom Lord]

Hmm...and I suppose that an acre of land can produce enough food for four people? People need vastly more space to survive than just what they live in

Obviously. But you ignore the fact that if everyone lived in Texas, there would be the land mass of the 49 other states to produce the food and needed supplies.

My point being, the earths population is not to large to sustain. There is not a disaster just over the horizon that will wipe out 80% of the earths population as the zero population growth doom and gloomers are predicting and have been predicting for 30 years.

[Centurion2000]

Nonsense. It is only in the last hundred years or so that crowding has become a serious problem

BS .... Go check the CIA fact book.

Continent : %Land considered wilderness
Africa : 28%
North America : 38%

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting point -- And yet studies that are able to put true "price" on the cost of living 50 miles outside a city consistently show that the real cost of living there is higher than the cost of living 25 miles away. The key, of course, is that living 50 miles away from your place of work "costs" a lot of time, aggravation, wear and tear on a vehicle, etc. that most people don't account for when they move that far away.