In 1775, a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed, a Harvard professor named Edward Wigglesworth did the math on American population growth and could barely contain his excitement. He had found that the colonists were doubling their numbers every 25 years, mostly through births, and at that pace he projected that by the close of the 20th century there would be “ONE THOUSAND TWO-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLIONS” of us (his capitalization, not mine). A billion Americans, and then some.
Sadly, there are only about 340 million of us today. We should be asking not just why we so badly undershot Wigglesworth’s hopes, but also whether we are about to start counting down instead of up.
If America’s population does decline, it will strain our entitlements system, damage the economy, reduce innovation and entrepreneurship, and cause serious labor shortages. But the majority point of view — held by major institutions like the Census Bureau, the United Nations and the Social Security trustees — is that the United States probably won’t face population decline until the 2080s, or even beyond 2100.
It really shouldn’t be surprising that the populace is declining after the tax system and medical insurance system we have in place. When you give all the food (money via tax breaks, which makes health-insurance easier to afford) to one group but not the other (rich over everyone else), don’t be surprised when the other group doesn’t have kids. The food pot is a zero-sum game. So, when all the food is going to one group, hunger sets in for the others. This means they don’t have kids.
Our world is getting torn apart, billions will die in starvation and disasters, ecosystems will collapse, biodiversity will endure a great filter, all becuase billionaires don’t want to be taxed. And they also think these things are the solution.
Our world is getting torn apart, billions will die in starvation and disasters, ecosystems will collapse, biodiversity will endure a great filter, all becuase billionaires don’t want to be taxed
Reminds me if that ending from Animal House/Farm where the starving animals end up eating the ruling pigs. When the pigs ask the starving animals why they’re eating them, the animals respond “If you didn’t want to be eaten, you shouldn’t have fatten yourselves up so much.”
And they also
thinkbribe these thingsareinto being the solution.FTFY
250 years is a good average run of an empire.
In a weird way, Trump is doing what many anti-capitalists, environmentalists and egalitarians wanted to have happen to America, just not with the ICE gestapo and the pedophile protection and mental levels of corruption. Thought it is in truth what an empire crumbling looks like, it’s truly sad for the people who live and love inside of it.
The crumbling empire is however not an excuse to have Trump and his criminal enterprise be held accountable for his numerous crimes in past, present and unfolding.
Yeah I had a guy in fediverse asking me where the incentive was for people to not have kids and its like dude. It not an incentive to not have kids. Its disincentive to have kids. Only collecting taxes at the hihest and reducing wealth disparity has any chance of even keeping things at a replacement level.
"If America’s population does decline, it will strain our entitlements system, damage the economy, reduce innovation and entrepreneurship, and cause serious labor shortages. "
Funny how the cost to raise children, which then consume even more resources as adults are never mentioned.
It’s always, “Who is going to pay for MY retirement.” Not, “Who will pay to raise your children.”
Reitrees are a burden. Children… pay for themselves? Possibly through coal mining.
Having negative immigration is hurting too. That’s what sped this up recently.
Then look at the also old but far more recent and science-based studies in the Limits to Growth work. And how reasonably close we are to finding those limits, even if that study lacked newer data and didn’t include climate change. Seems that the organizations listed in that quote aren’t factoring in any changes coming soon. Much like the IPCC and their “everything is fine, future tech will save us” stance.
Sadly, there are only about 340 million of us today.
Who the fuck is this sad for? Why do we need a billion Americans? Im getting really sick of the hand wringing about population growth and combined with American exceptionalism it’s insufferable.
Good.
Humans are coarse and rough and irritating and they get everywhere
That’s sand.
Humans are an ancient spice made from the dried seeds of the Cuminum cyminum plant, a member of the parsley family.
Oh no, not more resources!
Actually it’s mostly correlated with education, and that’s also why (overgeneralizing a bit) poorer nations have a higher birthrate than richer ones, and those are the only nations where population is projected to be growing. The peak population for the entire world is estimated by the UN to be happening in 2084, at around 10 billions.
I think this is very good news for the environment and the sustainability of the world, but bad news for a capitalistic system because the economy can’t grow if the demand shrinks from a shrinking population. This should also explain some of of the right-wing policies and billionaires talking points (except immigration - it makes no sense thry are against that). I’m curious to see what system replaces the “number must go up” capitalism, when the number cannot possibly go up, because the number of customers of the companies is shrinking.
It’s also completely wild that this wide trend of population shrinkage is actually happening for the first time in the entire human history during our lifetime!
