4 ms·

probably because there isn't much support for the collective subsidizing the very personal choice of procreating

Retric 3y ago
Which looks really silly once significant negative population growth kicks in. With US well below replacement rate and net immigration rate down 58% since 1998 and continuing to trend down. So things may start getting interesting fairly soon. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/popu...
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  Sounds better than an economic system that demands surplus labor to treat as disposable. Drive that total fertility rate down.
  - Retric 3y ago
    Ultimately population scales the demand just as it scales the workforce, so it’s not inherently going to change anything outside of extreme situations. Significant negative population growth is however unpleasant because the infrastructure you build today ends up excessive in the future. As to surplus labor you need flexibility simply from people changing jobs. Average 1 month searching every 4 years and that’s a 2.1% unemployment rate. Yes, many people keep their jobs for very long periods but other people job hop regularly.
    - tnel77 3y ago
      Excessive? Since we refuse to build light rail and such, at least we might have roads that aren’t slammed sometime in the future!
      - Retric 3y ago
        Oddly looking at Japan etc you’re likely to see worse traffic as population declines not better. People end up abandoning areas and concentrating more so you get ghost towns and mega cities. It becomes much more expensive per person to keep a small town water treatment plant running and roads cleared etc as population declines. So not only is useful infrastructure abandoned early, you now have people migrating into already densely populated areas.
adamisom 3y ago
"the collective subsidizing the very personal choice of procreating" I support massive subsidies because the sum of these personal choices is equivalent to the next generation's collective
tnel77 3y ago
Collective subsidizing how? Are you referring to food stamp and other government benefits? If so, I’d argue that jobs offering better wages should help with that issue.

Which looks really silly once significant negative population growth kicks in. With US well below replacement rate and net immigration rate down 58% since 1998 and continuing to trend down. So things may start getting interesting fairly soon. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/popu...

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Sounds better than an economic system that demands surplus labor to treat as disposable. Drive that total fertility rate down.
- Retric 3y ago
  Ultimately population scales the demand just as it scales the workforce, so it’s not inherently going to change anything outside of extreme situations. Significant negative population growth is however unpleasant because the infrastructure you build today ends up excessive in the future. As to surplus labor you need flexibility simply from people changing jobs. Average 1 month searching every 4 years and that’s a 2.1% unemployment rate. Yes, many people keep their jobs for very long periods but other people job hop regularly.
  - tnel77 3y ago
    Excessive? Since we refuse to build light rail and such, at least we might have roads that aren’t slammed sometime in the future!
    - Retric 3y ago
      Oddly looking at Japan etc you’re likely to see worse traffic as population declines not better. People end up abandoning areas and concentrating more so you get ghost towns and mega cities. It becomes much more expensive per person to keep a small town water treatment plant running and roads cleared etc as population declines. So not only is useful infrastructure abandoned early, you now have people migrating into already densely populated areas.

adamisom 3y ago

"the collective subsidizing the very personal choice of procreating" I support massive subsidies because the sum of these personal choices is equivalent to the next generation's collective

tnel77 3y ago

Collective subsidizing how? Are you referring to food stamp and other government benefits? If so, I’d argue that jobs offering better wages should help with that issue.