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Should Low Fertility Rates Be a Concern for the U.S. Economy and Security Long Term?

Feb. 6, 2013 9:04pm

Americans are having fewer babies – could that have unintended negative consequences for the long-term survival of the United States as a world power? Jonathan Last says 100% yes. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Last suggests that the inverse baby boom means that innovation goes into decline and the economy and national security suffer as the nation’s demographics shift.

Low-fertility societies don’t innovate because their incentives for consumption tilt overwhelmingly toward health care. They don’t invest aggressively because, with the average age skewing higher, capital shifts to preserving and extending life and then begins drawing down. They cannot sustain social-security programs because they don’t have enough workers to pay for the retirees. They cannot project power because they lack the money to pay for defense and the military-age manpower to serve in their armed forces.

The simplest solution “have more babies” is not without its hiccups. Raising children is expensive and difficult, and as a result, there’s not much incentive to do it.

On ‘Real News‘ Wednesday the panel discussed with Last what larger problems can stem from America’s fertility problem, and why the simple solution isn’t necessarily out there:

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Comments (8)

  • G-WHIZ
    Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:54am

    DON’T WORRY! kING bERRI WILL [EXECUTIVE-ORDER] us intothe NewWorldOrder and ALL ILLEGALS WILL BE LEGAL….cause they ALL are NOW part of one big world-wide country!! Sux to be you for continually VOTING FOR HIM and all his PROG/OldWorld/FabianSociallists!!

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    G-WHIZ  
  • bluestate2redandliving-better
    Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:37am

    What about all the Hispanic and black kids? There are videos on here like the woman in Atlanta getting tased… She had 3. I’m from California, my family has been for 5 generations. I left because of the oppressive nature of the state and the Hispanic boom. Way too much crime, too crowded and high taxes to pay them off. They are the future people, last two elections ring a bell? God bless and good luck.

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    bluestate2redandliving-better  
  • Leslie Anne
    Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:19am

    I’m glad my two daughters aren’t having any children. Besides, it’s not their responsibility to have children just so the gov’ment has someone to tax to pay for the expenses of old people, social programs, or to send off to war.

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    Leslie Anne  
  • Jedrin
    Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:28am

    It is not infertility that is the problem; it is a debt-based economy plus socialism, which is the old stealing from the young system and just not enough death. Pet dogs are treated better than children in the US even though those same people will some day starve if not enough children work to support their old age. Wars are good, or so it seems. Any “almost extinction event” will do to replace war. Then children are appreciated as the miracle they are, a symbol of survival into the future. Life is just too easy. Humans are wired to survive and dominate under the worst conditions. Now that life is way too easy people make it hard a full of harshness, unnecessary of course. Then the more sane take up extreme sports, motorcycle riding, drunk driving, cliff diving and other risky hobbies just for the “thrills” of surviving that are human nature. Or they make up imaginary fears creating anxiety disorders. Or perhaps read books with lots of subjects like war or space opera. Infertility is only a problem for the bankers; near death experiences are the basic problem for the species.

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    Jedrin  
  • rsanchez1
    Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:00am

    You just need to look at Japan. They dominated China and the entire region in the decades preceding and including WWII. Since then, the Japanese have gotten old and China has emerged as the dominant power. Used to be everything was made in Japan, now everything is made in China. The Japanese have entered into a permanent slump, lost decade is more like lost decades, and China is booming. The Japanese were content living like this while under US protection, but with the US Navy scaling back, they’ve been scrambling to get back into shape, but like their aging population, it will take them a long time to stand up and by the time they get close, China will be there to force them to sit back down.

    They went from being the dominant Pacific power, one of the major nations that fought WWII, to an aging afterthought in less than 50 years.

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    rsanchez1  
  • ionamerica
    Posted on February 6, 2013 at 11:40pm

    If this reasoning makes sense to you (and it should), read “America Alone” by Mark Steyn.

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    ionamerica  
    • tkm2009
      Posted on February 7, 2013 at 4:48pm

      I second that. Steyn’s book is a great resource.

      Also take a look at a DVD called Demographic Bomb (www.demographicbomb.com).

      There is a new book out on this subject that I am looking forward to reading called “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster” by Jonathan V. Last.

      Demographers have known what’s coming for years now, but no one will pay attention because we’ve all been trained to think that we’re undergoing a population explosion. Thank Malthus and Ehrlich for that.

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      tkm2009  

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