SOURCE A
“Overpopulation is Killing the American Dream”
By Joseph Cotto
Communities Digital News
April 21, 2014
The overwhelming majority of Americans believe that our country is headed in the wrong direction.
According to Rasmussen Reports, 61 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Sixty-eight percent of whites and 54 percent of non-black minority voters believe we’re on the wrong track, while 60 percent of black voters and 55 percent of Democrats believe the country is headed in the right direction.
When Gallup asked the question earlier this month,“In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?” the results were worse: 73 percent were dissatisfied.
One of the first things that critics bring up is the economy, closely followed by politics. Institutions that used to give Americans confidence are declining in public esteem; the Supreme Court and religion are both seen less positively than they were ten or 20 years ago.
This is one way of looking at things, to be sure, but it does not allow for a snapshot encompassing the entire social landscape. One key aspect of human development is often ignored entirely; nations with larger populations tend to be more impoverished, with negatively correlating rates of healthcare access and educational opportunities.
Despite being a solidly first-world superpower, the United States isno exceptionto this rule. It stands as the third most populous country on Earth, coming in only behind China and India. During the twentieth century, its population quadrupled. Were this trend to continue throughout the twenty-first century, America would be home to more than one billion people by 2100, though we should note that the rate of growth has declined to its lowest in a century.
Even so, the U.S. has one of the highest growth rates in the developed world.
The results of this demographic explosion are readily apparent: low wages and high unemployment rates, public school systems with very high student-to-teacher ratios, and government assistance programs so heavily utilized that severe cuts will be needed to sustain them.
The damage caused by overpopulation is severe.First, high population tallies and subpar salaries are intrinsically linked. When the rate of population growth exceeds the rate of economic growth, standards of living fall. Low income countries are home to the highest birthrates, despite economic prospects in those countries being poor. That means soaring unemployment statistics.
In America’s poorer regions, conditions that might be described as “third world” can be found all too easily. Overpopulation has resulted in a crucial job deficit and applicant surplus. In the past, this has mainly affected blue collar workers, though the ongoing recession has brought traditionally secure white collar jobs under the gun.
In public education,8 percent of schools exceed their capacities by more than 25 percentbecauseof population increases. One-third conduct classes in portable classrooms, and one-fifth are actually forced to turn congregation halls such as gymnasiums into makeshift learning environments. Even worse, various school districts are now considering building structures on ecologically hazardous grounds.
Public assistance is an eminently sore subject. It is exploited almost as an art form by partisans on the political left and right alike. However, looking at the subject in an objective manner, it becomes obvious that there are certain distinguishable trends, and they pertain to generational poverty.
Accordingto an interactive map published byThe New York Timesdetailing the recipients of government benefits from 1969 to 2009, certain counties steadily increased in their rates of using benefits. Many of these were never in great financial shape to begin with, but they became increasingly destitute. One can blame this on the gross outsourcing of employment opportunities, but by and large population rates rose in spite of this.
New generations have been born which make living off public sector subsidies a career in itself. As this subset continues to grow, spurred by a culture that does not value personal achievement, the problems it causes to society will grow.
With all of these crises and others continuing to grow, what can be done to curb overpopulation? Over the last several decades, government has invested in reproductive health services, including educational programs. A strong education isexactlywhat drives down birthrates; specifically among those who would otherwise be in poverty.
Not everyone wants so much as a high school diploma; therefore, this cannot be mandated or expected of all. In any case, promoting messages of personal responsibility and informing youths about thestaggeringcost of parenthood, currently averaging out at $226,920 from cradle to graduation, should serve as highly effective reality checks.
In order to survive, every country needs to have a certain amount of its populace reproduce. However, the indescribably important act of bringing another person into this world should be done on a reasonable basis, not as the result of purely emotional drives. In my opinion, motherhood or fatherhood deserves to be thought of as a career in its own right, not merely a complement to an existing lifestyle.
Should more people view the idea of having children this way, and place the greatest focus on personal productivity, then America’s overpopulation crisis will go a long way toward being solved. There are other things that should be done, such as drastically revising immigration rules and reconsidering foreign trade policies, but placing mind over matter is an excellent start.
If these pivotal steps were to be taken, then America might stand the chance for a spectacular socioeconomic rebound. The essential question is whether or not we will admit that overpopulation is a problem in the first place.
SOURCE B
“The Economic Benefits of Immigration”
By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
The Manhattan Institute
February 5, 2013
America's economic growth is hovering around 2 percent, public debt is $16 trillion and rising, and job creation and labor market participation remain low. Embracing a more flexible legal immigration system can dramatically improve this situation. This paper describes the link between economic growth and immigration, the need for policy change, the misguided history of America's political opposition to immigration, and a rational immigration policy.
Immigrants increase economic efficiency by reducing labor shortages in low- and high-skilled markets because their educational backgrounds fill holes in the native-born labor market. However, the share of immigrants in the U.S. workforce has declined since its 1991 peak. Increased immigration would expand the American work-force, and encourage more business start-ups. Businesses ranging from Apple Corporation to apple growers would be able to find the workers they need in America.
Current law has inhibited such positive developments.
H-1B temporary visas for new skilled immigrant workers, limited at 85,000 annually, do not meet demand. This quota represents just over one twentieth of one percent of the overall labor force. Acquiring permanent residency (a "green card") is a lengthy and potentially costly process. When immigrant talent, such as the 51 percent of engineering doctorate earners and the 41 percent of physical sciences doctorate earners who are foreignborn, are forced to leave the United States, private and taxpayer investment in research loses value.
Such limitations have been the result of opposition, based largely on false premises, to more open immigration.
Opposition to immigration is as old as immigration itself. American anti-immigrant groups have long feared the possibility that immigrants drive nativeborn workers out of jobs. However, this occurs only in the negligible proportion of occupations where native-born and immigrant skill sets overlap. Many economists have shown that immigration increases the wages of native-born Americans.
A growth-oriented immigration policy would allow a greater number of immigrants to legally enter, stay, and work in the United States. Arlene Holen, using Congressional Budget Office methodology, has estimated that if no green card or H-1B visa constraints had existed in the period 2003-07, an additional 182,000 foreign graduates in science and technology fields would have remained in the U.S. Their contribution to GDP would have been $14 billion in 2008, including $2.7 to $3.6 billion in tax payments. Three hundred thousand H-1B visa holders would also have remained in the U.S. labor force, earning $23 billion in 2008 and generating $34-$47 billion in tax revenue over the next decade.
An immigration policy focused on increasing economic growth would seek ways to admit more immigrants with the advanced education levels desired by domestic employers. One approach to increasing legal immigration in a growth-oriented way, suggested by economists Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny, is to auction permits to employers with demand-based minimum prices. This would raise public revenues while creating a market for permits and guaranteeing that immigrants would arrive with employment. Differing prices could be charged for workers with particular skill sets, given demand. Initial revenues could be as much as $6 billion, which could be invested in services that immigrants use.
Such policy innovations would require, as well, resolution of the status of the estimated 11 million undocumented "illegal immigrants" now living and (generally) working in the U.S. The Brookings-Duke Institute Roundtable has suggested that a solution to the problem of undocumented immigrants would begin with the establishment of a workplace verification system, proven to be effective, which allows employers to know promptly whether a potential employee has the right to work in the United States. This would be followed by a series of steps toward legalization—including payment of back taxes, a mandatory fine, employment and background checks, and a citizenship-type test for those wanting to remain in America. These steps were the basis of the 2005 and 2007 McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration proposals, and form the core of the Senate bipartisan agreement announced in January. Provisional visas and a path to permanent residency and citizenship could be provided for immigrants without criminal records, provided all requirements are completed.
Immigration benefits the economy, and America must adopt more flexible immigration policies that spur growth.
SOURCE C
National Willamette Forest, Oregon
SOURCE D
“Overpopulation”
By Sylvia Chidi (2010)
Over-population, over-population
The masses engage in mass copulation
The gases of the masses spell out pollution
Let us condemn the nations!
Volcanoes spontaneously erupt
While the world is fundamentally corrupt
In the oceans, oil is spilled
And vast amount of sea life is killed
Every hour there is an earthquake
And numerous Lives’s are at stake
Global warming is storming Gods’ own creation
Whilst we give our politicians standing ovations
For speeches that they make on television
Let us condemn the nations!
For we all have a part to play
Oratory speeches we have heard before
Oratory speeches offer no man a cure
Men and women always want more and more
Long is the suffering future generations must all endure
Over-population, Over-population
Let us embark on a global mission
Embrace the one child policy as a future vision
Let us take steps in the right directions