One out of every six people live in abject poverty. Adding
additional billions of humans to the Earth is not likely
to improve these conditions.
The big debate this political year is about OUTSOURCING. Millions of Americans are angry because their jobs are being sent overseas. What few Americans know is that we have much to do with the problem.
See, in a nutshell, world population is EXPLODING. In my lifetime, world population has doubled, growing from 3.02 billion in 1960 to 6 billion in 1999. In the last five years our Planet has added another 300 million people — in other words we've added another United States to the globe. While the United States is growing rapidly, other nations are growing much faster, and the vast majority of world growth is taking place in developing nations. And more developed countries like India, Pakistan, and Indonesia are also experiencing phenomenal growth rates.
Now, you may be sitting in a rocker and sipping on your Tapioca juice and saying, "Yeah, so what's that got to do with me?" Well, human population is exploding, and RESOURCES and JOBS are finite. Thus, there are more people competing for jobs. There are numerous highly populated nations with an incredible labor glut. As United States population continues to skyrocket, primarily through immigration, we will soon join this club of nations.
So, don't complain when your job is outsourced to another country. Why? Because the Bush Administration has either cut or severely restricted our country's contribution to international family planning programs. Now, I am NOT making the case that we should promote contraceptives overseas to protect American jobs. But what I am advocating is more emphasis on long-term sustainability. It is in the best interest of couples in ALL countries to limit their family size to one or two kids.
MORE IRONY...
When Johnny Six Pack wants a huge family so he can have a son to carry the family name or more field hands, he is actually hurting his children in the long-run. More people mean more competition for resources, which drives prices up. Who is hurt by these high prices? The people who are already hurting the most — poor people. And who gains the most? The rich people who can control or manipulate scarce commodities.
More people causes increased pressures for individuals to migrate to other nations in search of a better life. In the United States we complicate this problem even further by subsidizing our farmers, putting rural farmers in Latin America at a disadvantage. This difficulty, combined with large corporate farms that come in and invade areas, often forces families off their land and into the United States (illegally).
So, don't complain about immigrants stealing your job either. The short-sighted and unethical policies of your government has caused the problem. Common sense would dictate that our government and U.S. based corporations would make huge investments in Latin America, thus improving local economies and lives, and taking incentives away to migrate. But rather than partnering with and helping our brothers and sisters south of the border, we exploit them and enslaved them with debt. Investing in South and Central America would also help to create stable economies that would become great markets for American goods.
THE NEW ERA BEGINS
China's economy is booming, and so is their massive population, which is now at 1.3 billion. In our country, steel and fuel prices are shooting up, and this is partly blamed on the success of the Chinese economy. But what is never mentioned in the news is China's burgeoning population.
Can every person in the world enjoy an American lifestyle? Well, that's everyone's dream. But does our planet have enough resources to sustain such wealth? Can our atmosphere hold even more auto emissions? Can we afford to clear even more millions of acres of farmland and forests to make room for more houses and Krogers? Can we?
The Yellow Canary notices that politicians are only parroting what they think the voters want to hear. They are not offering innovation or vision. At least now everyone realizes that protectionism is suicidal and a short-term, Band-aid solution. Yet, the talk I'm hearing sounds more and more like protectionism.
We have sown, now we reap. So, stop complaining and remember to vote.
Source: Population Reference Bureau
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