Population Going Down

Crazy Elf · Post by **Crazy Elf** » Sun May 27, 2007 11:56 pm

I heard this guy talking on Counterpoint, a radio program that's podcast over here, on my computer that has been stolen. That aside, he said some very interesting things about the population being on the decrease, with birth rates going down across the globe.

The transcript is here.

Seeing that it's come up recently, I figured it was worth putting forward. An 8 billion cap? What do you all think of it?

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:00 am

Interesting stuff.

Back in the time of Caesar Augustus, for example, the emperor was so concerned about the reluctance of people to marry and have children that he slapped bachelor taxes on Roman nobles who wouldn't do their part for the state.

I bet this will be the next step of the Polish government. They already give out some bonuses to parents upon a birth of their child, give tax benefits to families with more children as an incentive to procreate. Recently I heard they were thinking about having people who live together registered and there was a talk that the couples who live together without marriage would have to pay higher taxes. Craziness.

FlakJacket · Post by **FlakJacket** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:51 pm

Yeah well the Kaczynski twins do come across as slightly... odd.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:07 pm

This is a major issue in Europe, where overpopulation [not "population so high no one can eat," but "population over optimal"] has been a problem for a while. The problem now is that most everyone's economy - and most particularly, their idiotic pension systems - are based on constant growth. The clever European countries are those who have realized growth doesn't need to mean expansion of worker base [which is already large enough to exploit their economic resources] but can simply mean expansion of market or efficiency. That's my goal with the US: cease physical and population expansion, and use our resources instead to expand efficiency and market, which are less dead-end tactics.

Daki · Post by **Daki** » Tue May 29, 2007 9:31 pm

*Cheers at the dropping population*

I would think this is going to hit China hard as well but I'm not sure what the population ages are in that country (and not sure if they COULD make an accurate survey in that country).

Japan has a population drop coming but I think that one is still fairly off.

America still has the looming Baby Boomer retirements to deal with. There are only so many Greeters that Wal-mart will hire and not enough people to fill in the open ranks.

Instant Cash · Post by **Instant Cash** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:36 pm

There are quite a few countries right now that have a negative over all population growth.

You can see it in the population pyramids for the different regions.

Poland is one of those on the loosing end of the pyramid. (personally I think there does need to be fewer people about)

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbpyr.html

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:37 am

Instant Cash wrote:Poland is one of those on the loosing end of the pyramid. (personally I think there does need to be fewer people about)

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbpyr.html

That's a really cool website.

Poland's problems are bigger than having less children being born than in years before. It's also the whole migration process that worries our authorities but they do not seem to be able to find a solution to keep young people from emigrating after they graduate. These two factors combined will speed the whole process of the society aging enormously.

Instant Cash · Post by **Instant Cash** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:51 pm

jo_alex wrote:
Instant Cash wrote:Poland is one of those on the loosing end of the pyramid. (personally I think there does need to be fewer people about)

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbpyr.html
That's a really cool website.

Poland's problems are bigger than having less children being born than in years before. It's also the whole migration process that worries our authorities but they do not seem to be able to find a solution to keep young people from emigrating after they graduate. These two factors combined will speed the whole process of the society aging enormously.

Yeah, I actually did a report on the negative child birth and the people leaving poland for class a couple semesters back. Hence why I had the link.

They have some major problems. Like when workers can get over 3 times the amount they are paid in poland by working in England.

When they can actually get work there and not just some scam (which is big in the UK media right now)

jo_alex · Post by **jo_alex** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:32 pm

Instant Cash wrote:They have some major problems. Like when workers can get over 3 times the amount they are paid in poland by working in England.

It's worse even. People with Masters degree who were directors of various engineering companies in Poland go to work in factories in England and earn more money there. These ones usually claim, though, that they just want to earn enough to buy themselves a house, a car etc. and then they want to come back.

When they can actually get work there and not just some scam (which is big in the UK media right now)

What always amazes me is that usually these are Polish people who work on these scams and trick their own countrymen into believing in them.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:39 pm

jo_alex wrote:What always amazes me is that usually these are Polish people who work on these scams and trick their own countrymen into believing in them.

That's not particularly amazing, when you think about it: when it comes to personal benefits, national unity generally doesn't enter the picture. Besides, most murders of Polish people are committed by their own countrymen, too. National loyalty doesn't stop selfishness.

Toryu · Post by **Toryu** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:42 pm

jo_alex wrote:
Instant Cash wrote:They have some major problems. Like when workers can get over 3 times the amount they are paid in poland by working in England.
It's worse even. People with Masters degree who were directors of various engineering companies in Poland go to work in factories in England and earn more money there. These ones usually claim, though, that they just want to earn enough to buy themselves a house, a car etc. and then they want to come back.

It's not just Poland, though. There's a reason I work for one of the Big 4 here in Germany and not in the Czech Republic, and it is called money, 'cause that's what it takes to make a living. Sure, I could get by in Prague as well, and the city is more beautiful than Frankfurt...but I get paid three times the amount in Germany for virtually the same job, for a near identical company.

MissTeja · Post by **MissTeja** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:33 pm

Toryu wrote: Sure, I could get by in Prague as well, and the city is more beautiful than Frankfurt...but I get paid three times the amount in Germany for virtually the same job, for a near identical company.

How you doin'?

Hahahaha.

Instant Cash · Post by **Instant Cash** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:02 pm

Work it girl!

Daki · Post by **Daki** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:51 pm

But you DID have to surrender your soul to the evil of E&Y to do it. Thankfully that empty hole the soul leaves is so easily filled with money.

Toryu · Post by **Toryu** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:37 am

Daki wrote:But you DID have to surrender your soul to the evil of E&Y to do it. Thankfully that empty hole the soul leaves is so easily filled with money.

Well, yeah, they're evil no doubt, but thankfully the relatively benign kind of evil compared to the rest of the Big 4. And, as Gordon Gecko aptly put it, greed (and hence money) is good. Empty souls are quite easily patched. Some souls, at least.