I went to the PMPA Management update in Orlando the last week of February, and one of the speakers was an expert demographer named Ken Gronbach. The lecture made me feel quite grateful to be an American, and bullish about America’s position as a future global economic power.
Gronbach says that the labor force of United States has a bright future because we have a positive birthrate and a steady influx of Latinos coming into the country which keeps the U.S. population growing. Latinos have a strong work ethic, and assimilate relatively well into American culture. Spanish and English languages tend to accommodate each other, and Hispanics come from a culture with Judeo-Christian values.
On the other end of the spectrum, Gronbach says that China really screwed itself with its one child policy. The proliferation of sex selective abortions has limited the female population of the country to an alarming degree. According to the Web site for Discovery News more than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses in 2020. The last year a study was conducted in 2005, there were 119 males per 100 females as reported by the newspaper Global Times. The total fertility rate in China is 1.54 (avg. births per woman in childbearing years). According to the 2000 census the TFR was 1.85 (0.86 for cities, 1.08 for towns and 1.43 for villages/outposts). The U.S. fertility rate on the other hand is 2.06.
Western European countries are also very frightened about population decline and have had to open up their borders to immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa whose culture often does not mesh smoothly with that of the native population. Italy and Germany have TFRs of 1.49 (2009) and 1.42 (2010) respectively.
In Eastern Europe, Russia has a GDP less than 1/12 of the U.S. and an average male life expectancy of 63. Not to mention the former Soviet countries have highest abortion rate in the world.
Question: Has legalized abortion affected the U.S. economy?
6 Comments
Abortion has helped America by dealing with unwanted pregnancies in a segment of the population that would not be able to care for the offspring properly anyway and forcing public resources to deal with the problem.
No rationally moral person could possibly believe that 50,000,000 babies aborted ( killed ) would in any way make this a better place. Deep down inside most of us know this is wrong, but sadly convenience wins out over what is right much of the time.
@Art. “segment of the population that would not be able to care for the offspring properly” Be carefull of what you say. Planned Parrent hood is concentrated in areas with large minority populations. Abortion is sold to this population. Rules are broken to provide abortions to this segment of the population. The highest death rate among the African American population is abortion. I encourage you to checkout a documentry named “Maafa 21”. I am white but everyone should know the facts.
Art, So, people with less resources have less worth? I don’t think you really beleive what you said. Your just repeating what you’ve been told to think!
I have to wonder if Barack Obama’s mother would have met Art’s criteria for being able to “care for her offspring properly” given that she was part of a minority and essentially a struggling single mother. I don’t think he would be our president if his mother had taken advice from him or Planned Parenthood.
Abortion is not an economic issue because it really doesn’t affect the economy (unless it is mandatory as in China). It is strictly a moral issue.
What planet is Gronbach on?
He needs to define “Latinos”. He also needs to identify how many of the “steady influx” are coming here legally. Shear number of bodies (many of which end up on the public dole) shouldn’t give you warm fuzzies down your leg.
So………….let me get this straight. “Latinos” are a “steady influx” into the USA, and are great breeders. That will make our country strong. China, on the other hand is running out of population, so they will no longer be a world power in any arena ??
Perhaps the reason for the reduced rate of marriage in China is because the available remaining women are possibly ugly. Better technique than legalized abortion.