Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
dohboi wrote:The fact is, it is possible--and it has been done--to implement policies that rapidly reduces birth rates.
Whether we will actually do so is another question, of course.
sunweb wrote:Bodhi Paul Chefurka has done an interesting estimate: http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2014/07/pa ... ility.html
Outcast_Searcher wrote:Agreed. So serious question: Is it (politicially) possible to mandate a birth control policy (or policies) in the US that "rapidly reduce the birth rate" to a level that "relatively rapidly" reduces the country's population to a more sustainable amount? Say 50 million in 2150 as a goal, just to spitball.
Why? Immigrant workers aren't a "cheap labor" alternative, as so many Americans think. They are the only labor available to do many unskilled jobs, and if they were eliminated, most would not be replaced. Instead, whole sectors of the economy would shrivel, and with them, many other jobs often filled by more skilled Americans.
In 1960, half of all the native-born men in the U.S. labor force were high school dropouts eager to take unskilled outdoor jobs in agriculture and construction. Today, fewer than 10 percent of the native-born men in the work force lack high school diplomas. But the economy still generates plenty of unskilled jobs, and most unskilled immigrants don't displace American workers. They fill niches — not just farmhand, but also chambermaid, busboy and others — that would otherwise go empty. And they support more skilled, more desirable jobs — foremen, accountants, waiters, chefs and more — at the businesses where they work and others in the surrounding community.
Just raise the wage, you say, and an American would take the job? Not necessarily, and very unlikely if it's a farm job. Farmers have been trying that — for decades. They raise the wage. They recruit in inner cities. They offer housing and transport and countless other benefits. Still, no one shows — or stays on the job, which is outdoors and grueling and must get done, no matter how hot or cold or otherwise unpleasant the weather. And of course, at some point, there are limits to how high a wage a grower or dairy farmer can pay before he is forced out of business by a farmer who produces the same commodity in another country, where the labor actually is cheap.
Return to Environment, Weather & Climate
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests