[Phantom Lord]

Zero population growth is a good idea? No, it is not.

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

Stick to shrinking government and not populations.

[twigs]

Stick to shrinking government and not populations.

Absolutely! Once you begin with restricting people growth, you enter into all kinds of sticky issues. Who can reproduce? Who do we eliminate? What about personal freedom to make decisions? Not only is this a slippery slope, it leads to the end of all freedom!

[palmer]

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

216914 square miles, 640 acres per square mile, 168 million acres or 670 million people in families of 4 per acre. World population: 6.2 billion (40 people per acre).

Not too bad until they all get into their cars.

[GovernmentShrinker]

And what about the next generation, when all those people living on one acre in Texas have 2.5 - 3 children apiece? And the generation after that? What ever quality of life is theoretically available to the current number of people on earth, deteriorates with each successive generation that is larger than the one before. Remember the wonderful pioneer era in this country, when hard-working people needed only to stake their claim to 20 or 40 acres of free land, and then settle down to improving their' families' standard of living? That's no longer an option. With continued population growth, the acre in Texas won't be an option either (and by the way, that calculation assumes that all roads, farms, ranches, parks, wildlife habitats, etc. are eliminated).

[B Knotts]

In the U.S., at least, we are pretty close to zero population growth, excluding immigration.

[delphine]

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. That being said, smaller government is a good idea, too.

[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!