In February, Businessweek carried an article by Charles Kenny entitled, The Reproductive Recession. The lead line said, “Americans just don’t make babies like they used to.”
American women are expected to have, on average, fewer than two children. The U.S. birthrate is the lowest in nearly a century according to the Pew Research Center.
In 1970, the average woman gave birth to 4.7 children in her lifetime. Today, across the globe the figure is 2.5 children.
By 2050, according to the United Nations, “48 countries out of a world total of 229 will have smaller populations than in 2010. In 1980 the median age was 23; by 2050, it will be 38. Already, the burden of supporting aging populations with a shrinking pool of able-bodied workers threatens the solvency of government in advanced countries.” That is probably the most truthful part of Mr. Kenny’s article since it went on to say, “Policymakers and the public will have to adjust to changes in the way we allocate resources and define work.”
Allocating resources most surely deals with health care. There is simply no way an uncivilized Washington political establishment will allow those over 65 years old to grow old gracefully. There of course is no mention of the 50 million American citizens who were aborted for the general population’s pleasure. Those citizens are needed today.
They would have balanced out population shifts and been contributors to society.
Planned Parenthood was founded to control minorities. Would society have been better off if President Obama’s mother sought that route or the mother of Dr. Ben Carson of Johns Hopkins University? Dr. Carson’s mother struggled but instilled confidence and purpose in that young man’s life.
In 1992, my father, Tony Keating was 83 years old. My brother and I were in our 40s. Normally, if your parent is in his or her 80s, one would expect to be in or around 60.
I remember asking my dad why he had married so late. What a feeble question on my part – like life is a bed of roses.
Dad easily answered that he couldn’t afford it. He graduated college in 1932 right in the middle of the Depression. That is why his generation was called the “greatest” from the Depression then into World War II. Fifteen lost years.
Isn’t affordability also true today and has much to do with our population numbers?
People can’t afford the cost of raising children even their own. Little effort is made to teach young girls not to get pregnant. Everyone knows the value of two-parent families, but since we can’t be judgmental, it’s not said enough. You may limit your family but you are paying for someone else’s child. Forty-six million Americans on food stamps. Mothers with many children from multiple fathers. A real American tragedy.
High tax rates, illegitimacy and abortions are the real reasons the population is in decline. With the advances in medical science and technology we should be on the verge of creating a society with economic opportunities for all. Yet we are squandering the opportunity with unstoppable government spending designed only keep re-electing office holders.
Even with lower birthrates, there is not more food available or housing and income to go around.
Children are not better educated and society as a whole has lost its moral compass.
