Over at Ogden on Politics, my good friend---always be wary when someone, in a political context, refers to another person as "my very good friend"; either a jab or pursuit of a job will follow---Paul Ogden has missed another point. He refers to an item written by a Catholic priest, Father John Hollowell, about a sign hung in a Northview High School, Brazil, Indiana, hallway that promotes the idea "Zero Population Growth/It's Up to You, No More Than Two." Paul's blog, and Father Hollowell's post, go on to note that U.S. birth rates have fallen below "replacement" levels, as have the rates for some large European countries. Great Britain is given as an example. Our country's population growth occurs, it would seem, from immigration, not people having sex.

   A major concern, of Father Hollowell and Mr. Ogden, about the lack of U.S. population growth is the shortfall, in the future, of people in the workforce to support others in society. The focus is on the United States. The concern would be a bit more genuine were it not for the growth of population in the rest of the World, how people have managed to screw up this planet with the growth of population to over seven billion, and scarcity of jobs in the future here in the U.S.

   UN population estimates put the World's total, by 2050, at between 8.3 and 10.9 billion. As one example, our oceans have been over-fished---an article in National Geographic, "Plenty of Fish in the Sea? Not Always," notes the devastation wrought on our oceans by commercial fleets of fish trawlers. People starve to death in Asia and Africa---and the United States, too. But more people means more use of global resources to keep people alive.

   In the meantime, there are fewer jobs for people who are here today. At one time, manufacturing provided a good living for people in factories. Many of those jobs have been replaced by robots and computers. Ned Ludd, as I have written before, had some good ideas.

   The top one percent of the population to which the major portion of wealth flows here, especially since the Reagan regime's redistribution of the wealth that began on January 20, 1981, enjoys the benefits of over-population. Costs of labor drop as people fight for the jobs that remain. In a world in which machines provide goods for many, who gets to enjoy the products? This is not the workers' paradise once imagined by Marx.

   The sign in that high school hallway communicates a good idea. Try to argue the contrary with a high school student who has recently learned she is pregnant. btw, contraceptives are important and should be provided by our schools. Ah! But our public education system soon will die, thanks to vouchers and charter schools. Aren't I optimistic today? Thanks, Paul, for putting me in such a chipper mood. For that---I'm glad your Reds are out of the post-season.