Catherine Rampell, of the Washington Post, wrote a column that was published by the San Diego Union Tribune that is titled: "We need more babies." The essence of her column was that the birth rate in the US has fallen so low that we older folks won't have enough "workers" to support us. So she thinks we need to increase our national birth rate.
I disagree with her for several reasons:
1. The world' resources are being used up at an alarming rate, which is contributing to extinction of many other important species. Because of the increase in the world's population, we are increasing CO2, warming the ocean, polluting the ocean, and destroying the land. The process cannot continue forever! We need to reduce the global birthrate, not increase it!
2.The impact of Americans on the world's environment is many times larger than that of any other country. Increasing our birthrate will impact the world much more severely than increasing it in other countries.
3. Her opinion, as presented, could be considered as "racist" since what she really means is that the US needs to increase the birthrate of "people like us" and not let people from other countries come to the use to "backfill" our under-performing birthrate. Can't we accept people from Africa, Latin America, The Philippines, or Asia?
4. Medical advances that have been made, and those "in the pipeline" will increase the life expectancy of everyone, and contribute even further to the impact on the global environment. It will also allow more Americans to be able to live a longer, more productive life. That will mean that we will be able to work longer and produce more in our lifetime, and maybe we won't need so many workers to help us.
5. Robotics is moving very quickly! Many boring service jobs are being eliminated in the US and eventually around the world. Many of the lower-paying service jobs involve caring for older people -- which may, in part, be replaced by robotics, electronics and computers. The date of the "Singularity" when computers become smarter than people has been moved from 2100, to 2050, and now might be in the 2030's! Self-driving cars are now on the road, will be sold next year, and might be in the majority by 2025. Do we need more car and truck drivers to be born? I don't think so!
6. As a nation, we should do everything we can to promote reduction in global birthrate, but should also try to import labor, as needed to fill the positions we feel are required to maintain our country. To do that, we need to set an example of controlling our birthrate, and maintain high standards of welfare, political freedom, and security so that the best from other countries will want to emigrate to the US.
7. We may not want to "import" labor from other countries for all jobs. We can certainly export a lot of our "work" to other countries For example, we can establish health care standards and allow older people needing assisted living to move and be cared for in countries and facilities that embrace our standards. We have already moved a lot of the low-paying manufacturing and call center jobs to other countries. Why can't we continue that process?
I disagree with her for several reasons:
1. The world' resources are being used up at an alarming rate, which is contributing to extinction of many other important species. Because of the increase in the world's population, we are increasing CO2, warming the ocean, polluting the ocean, and destroying the land. The process cannot continue forever! We need to reduce the global birthrate, not increase it!
2.The impact of Americans on the world's environment is many times larger than that of any other country. Increasing our birthrate will impact the world much more severely than increasing it in other countries.
3. Her opinion, as presented, could be considered as "racist" since what she really means is that the US needs to increase the birthrate of "people like us" and not let people from other countries come to the use to "backfill" our under-performing birthrate. Can't we accept people from Africa, Latin America, The Philippines, or Asia?
4. Medical advances that have been made, and those "in the pipeline" will increase the life expectancy of everyone, and contribute even further to the impact on the global environment. It will also allow more Americans to be able to live a longer, more productive life. That will mean that we will be able to work longer and produce more in our lifetime, and maybe we won't need so many workers to help us.
5. Robotics is moving very quickly! Many boring service jobs are being eliminated in the US and eventually around the world. Many of the lower-paying service jobs involve caring for older people -- which may, in part, be replaced by robotics, electronics and computers. The date of the "Singularity" when computers become smarter than people has been moved from 2100, to 2050, and now might be in the 2030's! Self-driving cars are now on the road, will be sold next year, and might be in the majority by 2025. Do we need more car and truck drivers to be born? I don't think so!
6. As a nation, we should do everything we can to promote reduction in global birthrate, but should also try to import labor, as needed to fill the positions we feel are required to maintain our country. To do that, we need to set an example of controlling our birthrate, and maintain high standards of welfare, political freedom, and security so that the best from other countries will want to emigrate to the US.
7. We may not want to "import" labor from other countries for all jobs. We can certainly export a lot of our "work" to other countries For example, we can establish health care standards and allow older people needing assisted living to move and be cared for in countries and facilities that embrace our standards. We have already moved a lot of the low-paying manufacturing and call center jobs to other countries. Why can't we continue that process?
No comments:
Post a Comment