The humans are fading out.
I am a baby boomer. After WW2, things were looking up. Men came home and made babies. Even before, farmers made babies. LOTS of babies. There was work to be done and lots of children helped keep farms running as well as family businesses.Then Japan and China got the idea they would run out of room. Lots of kids became frowned on. Even other countries thought people should not have so many kids. China clamped down..one baby per family only. And since boys were to provide for parents, baby girls managed to die before or at birth. Now whole villages in the hinterland are filled with young men and no women to marry.
In developed countries the average age is going higher every year. Young people are saying to heck with marriage and kids. Women figured out they dont have to be brood sows. Plus the young look at todays world and no way they wish to bring a child into it. What future will they have.
Southern countries seem to still be in the past and breed like mad. Part of the reason is so many babies and young kids die. So the thinking is one needs many so some might survive to provide for parents. And with lack of education, NGO's can't get it in their head if they have a couple, they can feed them. And get medical care. And they WILL live.
Now the world is shuffling. Those over populated countries are heading north. And some governments are welcoming them because laborers are needed to care for and provide for the elders who are over whelming the system. I read a democracy needs a slave labor force to exist.
Will the refuges and illegals meld into the north countries? Or will they see them as a free ride to use? Will they assimilate, or bring the crime, misogyny, gangs and lack of education and bring down the northern countries. Or in some, end up AS slaves.
Comments (14)
So does almost any other government. I don't see why anyone would want to make babies for such grim prospects. Is it ego? Is it that multitudes can multiply but they can't add? Where will new generations live? How will they earn a living? Looks like that's THEIR problem, not ours. The law of Supply and Demand affects labor, like everything else. But "Overpopulation" is still a taboo subject that you're not supposed to think about.
One accepted answer is "Oh well, I'll be gone before the sh!t hits the fan." Wonderful! I can't wait to die! Can you?
So does almost any other government. I don't see why anyone would want to make babies for such grim prospects. Is it ego? Is it that multitudes can multiply but they can't add? Where will new generations live? How will they earn a living? Looks like that's THEIR problem, not ours. The law of Supply and Demand affects labor, like everything else. But "Overpopulation" is still a taboo subject that you're not supposed to think about.
One accepted answer is "Oh well, I'll be gone before the sh!t hits the fan." Wonderful! I can't wait to die! Can you?
Over population is an excuse to slim the population down to a point where control over the population is easy, push the people into cities to have better control...
This has been the connotation all along, until now. But fundamentally it's overpopulation that gives the slavers a big, hungry, desperate labor pool.
Over population leads to starvation. That is the issue in Africa. A thousand years ago or whatever, a man and woman lived on acreage enough to provide even in lean years. He hunted, she grew crops. They had a baby.
Humans seem to have a knack for seeking good land. When that runs out, they settle on poor. Bad weather and more starvation.
I just looked on line with my boarder to see what factory jobs are local. Only a few. Either third shift or ones that take high skills. The farms around here are mainly large, family or corporate. So if illegals show up here, their choice is laundry or housekeeping. And not many of those either.
The jobs will end up slave labor. Sweatshops, care for elderly or kids. There are not enough jobs for over population.
The farmers here are really good for paying under the table because govt has strangled the hell out of farmers and small business, it seem to be the norm to rip your govt when they put the screws making money..
Do they count the women or men who are stay at home because they can't find a job or the childcare. The family makes due on one paycheck one way or the other.
The rate is like all averages. Ask 10 people and say 9 said yes, therefore only one percent said no. And the media touts those averages. I do surveys. If I don't fit some criteria, I am dumped. Excluded. So the survey picks the ones they want and then say survey says.
Now ask 1000 or 10,000 and accept all and then what are the numbers or percentage.
The US allows a business to pay out X amount in cash with no record. It allows a farmer or construction company to hire the bit of help they need without doing payroll, taxes, benefits, etc. They leave it to the worker to declare income.
Lots of people went to college. The sane ones, worked through it. Went to one they could afford. And after, loyally paid off any loans they ended up with.
So now they, as tax payers, are supposed to pay off the loans for others who either borrowed more than they would make. Or decided to pound up a few extra degrees?
It makes the ones who paid or are paying the chumps.
We need leaders who will stop with handouts to garner votes and pats on the back.
Seems to me the birthrate started dropping with the invention of the Pill in 1960 and as you said, the more intelligent and / or highly qualified people are, the less likely they are now to have children, so the big families are not always adding a lot of quality to the top end of the table. 8 billion people out there and probably still the same number of actual high-achievers as there were 50 years ago.
For what it's worth, not too clued up on Japan but I know China only restricted to one child per family in the built-up areas, farmers were allowed, even expected, to have big families. The Chinese govt even, when they noticed the boy-girl ratio was becoming a problem, allowed the rich to 'buy' the right to have more kids, so having a 2nd or 3rd child became a major status symbol. Now, anyone can have as many as they like and please get on with it as there's a bit of a panic. The aging population is bearing down heavily on one grandchild currently heading towards university age who is expected to support 4 grandparents and both parents in luxurious old age ... no pressure, eh? Chinese women who don't want to marry and have kids but would rather focus on their careers are facing real hostility.
Nearly all governments are anxious to cherrypick hard workers and anyone with useful skills from the refugees shuffling round the world because all governments are facing a top-heavy percentage of older citizens expecting pensions and a fully-staffed efficient support system. Most governments letting in all and sundry are gambling heavily on the majority of the incoming wanting to work and improve their lot in life, pay into the system, and support the future. I do agree that handouts sufficient to live on is counter-productive. If people aren't hungry they won't get out there and work their arses off. If people are starving, however, they can't. Neat trick to balance THAT one.
I went to a one room school and then 4 room. We had a milk break in the morning..2 cents for white and 3 for chocolate. And we got lunch. I think it was paid by the schools.
Now in the US, kids get breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a snack and bag for home for the weekend. All free.
What happens when that kid turns 18 and is done with school. Maybe graduates. Or not. "Hey man! Wheres my free food? Who's gonna feed me? Worse, mom wants me to move out and get a job! Work!?