Hungary has led the way with government benefits encouraging stable 2-parent families, with tax incentives and even giving parents of a third child a new minivan. In the United States we reward with welfare subsidy the single mother, leading to the phenomenon of generations of boys growing up without a male role model in the home. You get what you pay for.
And please remember, any FT MOM gives up social security. For single and/or divorced moms the reduced or non-existent social security may result in van life in a parking lot here in your elder years. The Soc Security Ponzi Program is an essential revenue source for some FT 24/7 stay-at-home moms. Reality is American doesn’t want FT moms anymore. Government schools raise/train/ indoctrinate/ teach the children.
CAB has had incredible people on our Board, and the facts were 25 years ago the "Stack'm & Pack'm" cities and urban planning were and are doomed to failure. Why? Did you read this article?
The population decline, as the Boomers had fewer children, and your grand children are not having replacement kids will eventually lead to enough housing, streets, etc. for people to live in.
The Sky is Falling factions have done everything they could to ignore the mathematical calculations that were being taught in colleges going back to the 1960's. Now faced with the reality of today populations they are crying foul (not to be called fowl).
Open the border, destroy the cohesive culture that created the Greatest Generation, tax the population for welfare, medical, and housing for people who cannot make it.
The Latest Headline.........this piece is right. The failed leadership in Sacramento is spending Billions of dollars, and created a massive debt the now aging workers cannot cover.
What's the issue with taxing a populace to assist the most vulnerable? Assisting the vulnerable and less fortunate is very much a biblical belief and is mentioned in both the Old and New Testament.
We have lost sight of the line between "protecting the vulnerable" (which we already do) and encouraging irresponsible choices with no consequences. (which we also do). Help us find the right mix of responses.
The post by J. Livingston that “we already do” protect the vulnerable in the United States, needs further clarification.
Child Protective Services and Santa Barbara County Director of Social Services have addressed CA dogs are protected better than our children. Laws have not been written or amended since the 1950s, or enforced. Social workers have excessively high caseloads: image 35 kids with different needs. Locally we have hundreds of “undesired” minors that we must ship off to other counties to obtain even minimal, inadequate care and supervision. My 12-year old Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) child was sent to juvenile hall then Los Prietos where beds 18” apart. No wonder STD is rampant. A life changing unwanted experience for him.
A child is only protected by an involved, 24/7 committed parent which most children lack after age 10 — if in fact the minor American child ever had such a parent thru elementary school. Too many are waifs. The author writes “the answer to increased human fecundity is all around us. And that’s a good thing.” I respectfully disagree.
Not everyone who is homeless is homeless as a result of personal actions, my family became homeless last year because of the predatory tactic of renoviction, wr always payed our rent on time for 19 years before then, but after the old landlord died our new landlord moved in and promptly wanted us out.
Sorry but as a Carlist I reject such measures that serve to further atomize communities and exacerbate housing inequality. Market liberalism and libertarian beliefs are not friendly to Catholic social teachings and so I will continue to reject them and favor the welfare of people over profit.
For some reason I got a message that SB Current has blocked me from liking this comment, so I'm here to say I like what you said, @TheotokosAPpreciator. The basic kindness of taking care of the poor is a tenet of any successful civilization.
We had the privilege of raising 4 children, all of whom launched into marriage and have so far produced 11 grandchildren. It is such a blessing and increasingly rare...so many of our boomer friends have few, if any, married kids (now in their late 30/40's). We think it is the result of a cultural FOMO, that fooled our society into believing that indulging self was a more valuable pursuit than sacrificing for, and investing in, a meaningful group...in this case, family. We can attest that exhaustion from active, present grandparenting is an alchemic joy unspeakable.
good article on declining population…unfortunately, the depopulation agenda is one of the main goals of the CCP (+++) communist insurgency that began in the 1950s…
We are now suffering the height of the communist insurgency…irregular warfare at it’s finest…
“Insurgency is the organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge political control of a region. As such, it is primarily a political struggle, in which both sides use armed force to create space for their political, economic and influence activities to be effective. Insurgency is not always conducted by a single group with a centralized, military-style command structure, but may involve a complex matrix of different actors with various aims, loosely connected in dynamic and non-hierarchical networks. To be successful, insurgencies require charismatic leadership, supporters, recruits, supplies, safe havens and funding (often from illicit activities). They only need the active support of a few enabling individuals, but the passive acquiescence of a large proportion of the contested population will give a higher probability of success. This is best achieved when the political cause of the insurgency has strong appeal, manipulating religious, tribal or local identity to exploit common societal grievances or needs. Insurgents seek to gain control of populations through a combination of persuasion, subversion and coercion while using guerrilla tactics to offset the strengths of government security forces. Their intent is usually to protract the struggle, exhaust the government and win sufficient popular support to force capitulation or political accommodation. Consequently, insurgencies evolve through a series of stages, though the progression and outcome will be different in almost every case.”
the good news is that we have Great Patriots leading the counter insurgency…
the difficult news is that these evildoers have captured nearly all nations of The World…the evil that now envelops the world can be traced back to the Khazars — the death cult that goes back 1,000s of years…for those interested, Veterans Today has many articles detailing the Khazarian Mafia [KM]…
How many people can be stuffed into a phone booth? The answer would be an infinite number if we were to believe Dr. Aijian's hypothesis. But, unfortunately, this is not reality for humanity on our lovely but finite planet Earth. Despite our decreasing global total fertility rate--from 4.95 in 1950 to 2.45 today--we are still adding some 2.37 people per second, this because we have three times as many people giving birth today. That's some 220,000--or the approximate populations of Goleta plus Santa Barbara plus Santa Maria--each and every day. And this equates to a "new" Germany or a "new" Iran and their 80m-ish each and every year. Or, a "new" U.S. and its 330m each time we hold a presidential election. And most of these poor souls are born into one of the world's many and growing megaslums.
Dr. Aijian claims that Paul Ehrlich erred in his "Population Bomb" research, but the fact of the matter is that Ehrlich underestimated the impact the "Green Revolution" would temporarily have on food production through the use of synthetic fertilizers, modern irrigation and farming technologies. But by all scientific accounts we've reached the end of that boom, especially as fresh water sources have largely been tapped out, arable land is on a precipitous decline (30% by the end of this century, all while our food needs are expected to double), and phosphorous and nitrogen-rich effluent runoff from farms and agriculture has created more than 600 hypoxic oceanic "dead zones" the world 'round wherein sea life can no longer survive.
For those who care to "connect the dots" between our rampant growth and the adverse impact it has on our environment they might want to check out the World Wildlife Fund's "Living Planet Report" which shows that global vertebrate numbers have plummeted over 60% since 1970, all while our human population has more that doubled. Coincidence? Sadly not. Rather this has to do with the fact that humanity's insatiable expansion gobbles up some 27 football fields worth of habitat every minute to accommodate our 1.1% annual population increase. And this, of course, is exactly why we are presently losing some 150 of Earth's estimated 8 million species per day, which is about 1,000 times the natural "background" extinction rate, and could result in the loss of between 12% to 40% of all earthly life forms by 2100, including 81% of amphibians and fresh water fish. And the prospects for the century after this look even more grim. Put another way: we currently consume approximately 70% more resources than our planet can sustainably regenerate. And, exacerbating matters, not only is our population still growing, but so is world-wide per capita consumption.
Verily, we are at the threshold of what's been termed the "Sixth Mass Extinction Event" but unlike the five preceding this one, ours is purely "anthropogenic"--i.e., human-caused.
So ask yourself, and please be honest, will adding more people do anything to resolve the massive and desperate migrations of people the world around? Or how about plastic waste, homelessness, climate change, wildfires, traffic gridlock, loss of wilderness open space, climate change, crime, floods, road rage, pandemics, ocean acidification and its subsequent coral reef die-offs, famine, war, ad infinitum, ad nauseam? I think not.
In fact, the only argument for increasing our population is so nations can keep funding their ever-growing entitlement obligations through the ever-increasing tax revenues generated by younger working generations. But is this form of classical neo-liberal capitalism--this endless behavior of "kicking the can down the road"--sustainable on a finite planet? Spoiler alert: nope.
Hope this helps. (BTW: I bet this post doesn't get one of those cute little heart "liked" emojis awarded to it by those openminded folks at SBCurrents.)
The issues you bring up are valid. The homeless issue in Santa Barbara was covered by local charities and churches. These groups then decided that they needed "government" to step in and fund the issue. With that, the word was out and Santa Barbara became a magnet for those who did not, would not work, or wanted an addiction pay check.
Since when is it the job of government to tell taxpayers they have no choice, and government will by dictate take their money, goods, or services? Once that step is taken where is the limit of government overreach? Interesting intellectual challenge isn't it.
If you as a person wish to dedicate your time, effort, and wealth to help people it is your choice. Don't depend on government to demand it, and organizations that take truck loads of tax money to exist, and then beat their collective chests as to how wonderful they are.
A government has a moral responsibility to care for and uplift its citizens, especially the least privileged. The America you promote seems one that idolizes hyper individualism and is anything but Christian.
The "government" is providing this opportunity in the form of universal free public education, including two years of low cost community colleges. How far should we be asked to rescue those who chose to not take advantage of what is already on the table, and at great tax payer expense?
This country comes with both rights and duties. The goal of the ADA legislation passed during the Nixon administration was to ensure there were no barriers to accessing these opportunities. Imposing a "guilt trip" only on providers is the wrong direction to take. It is time to put a guilt trip on those who refuse to help themselves.
"The Church’s interest in temporal things includes man’s political and economic life, both of which are governed by principles of justice. As spoken about in previous articles, both capitalist and socialist economic systems attempt to separate ethics from their systems, leading to corruption and injustice. By participating in either of these two economic frameworks is in itself a hinderance to the pursuit of salvation.
The Church, therefore, has lauded Distributism as an ethical alternative to these two systems. In the next section, passages from numerous Papal encyclicals will help demonstrate how the core principles of distributism have been promoted by the church over the past century and how these principles align perfectly with church social teachings.
Passages Relating to Distributism from Papal Encyclicals
Pope Leo, XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891)
That right to property, therefore, which has been proved to belong naturally to individual persons, must likewise belong to a man in his capacity of head of a family; nay, that right is all the stronger in proportion as the human person receives a wider extension in the family group.
If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income. Nature itself would urge him to this. We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners.
Many excellent results will follow from this; and, first of all, property will certainly become more equitably divided."
You chose to be a renter. You choose housing instability. You chose to not move to an area more in line with your own skills set. And now you demand others to remedy your own choices?
"choose" to be a renter??? You seriously did NOT just say that! California median home prices just rose above the $900k mark. You think everyone can just choose to be a homeowner? How OUT OF TOUCH can you be?
You chose to live in Santa Barbara. It is all about choices. Not about demands to be subsidized for your own choices. This choice might not be the best fit for you apparently.
Some of us would not mind if Santa Barbara slipped back into its more sleepy backwater model from a few decades ago. So being asked to subsidize high-employee demand businesses in order in order to support a current city revenue tax base, is not a winning argument to stay on this subsidized housing growth merry-go-round.
Why is personal choice and responsibility such an incredulous option for you, SS?
So then what do you thinknof those in Santa Barbara who work in say retail, hospitality, cleaning, restaurants? Santa Barbara has a large tourism industry and yet the people who ensure staff these industries most likely can't afford to purchase a house, so rent is their only option for housing. Why should they be expected to pay exorbitant prices for mediocre, small apartments. If they leave, what then, will the middle class take up these now vacant roles? Will the wealthiest work for minimum wage to make sure that these industries keep running?
Contemporary conservatives and libertarians seem far more conecred with maximum profits than of the dignity of man.
Why should we be expected to subsidize poor business plans? The burden is on the businesses to provide for their own overhead associated with that business plan. Or else give us an equity stake in any business that expects us to subsidize their employees.
Yours is a very distorted argument leading no where. Let the market forces prevail, rather than choosing more micro-managed nanny states distorted to march to your own personal agenda. You made a poor personal housing choice for this area, and now you expect someone else to bail you out?
Downside of current "student loan" culture was losing college age employees, happy to get the flexible hours and often meals-benefited jobs in the local hospitality industry, as they "worked their way through college". Learning valuable jobs skills that may well have exceeded what they were learning in the classrooms, in life -long practical terms. Many of us have been there and done that.
SB Current is censoring me by prohibiting me to like any of TheotokosAppreciator's posts. I want you all to know that I concur with what this person is saying.
I agree, 100%! It is a moral responsibility of our government and citizens to care for and uplift its people! Republicans have lost sight of this, if it ever was in their view to begin with. Voting to take money from schools and giving tax breaks to the most wealthy in our society are utter failings of morality and general decency.
Republicansdo support capitalism, which is on record having moved more people into the middle class and out of poverty than any other economic system. They have not lost rights of this remarkable engine for upward mobility for those who can and do take advantage of it. You err claiming otherwise.
Otherwise, fixed economic stratification based upon birth station is the other major operating alternative in much of the world. Staying mired in only resentful class envy is a dead end. Bloom where you are planted, and also where you chose to stay.
SS: In California, no money is "taken from schools" since Prop 98 guarantees public education gets their 50% share of general fund revenues right off the top.
State revenues do go up and down, but that is not taking anything away from anyone.However, the volatility of state revenues can be a direct reflection of the state business climate. Therefore it is unproductive to attack the state business climate, at the same time voters want to attack decreased state tax revenues. One or the other, please.
No other state entity is as generously as Prop 98 public education. Other than the guaranteed defined-benefit public pension payouts, who also get paid in full regardless of the performance of their pension fund investments to be able to pay that full amount. The short-fall in government pension funding then lands on the taxpayers. But the pension holders do get paid in full. As long as there is OPM to pay them.
There are no "tax breaks for the rich" in your zero sum game. There is simply the tax code, written by our elected representatives. . Your argument is intentionally polarizing. What are you really trying to say?
Don’t you mean, the UniParty composed of career politicians and bureaucrats, NGOs, have lost sight of caring for citizens and uplifting people? Self reliance is (or was) possible to attained following a taxpayer funded, free public education thru grade 12 nationally, and free thru grade 14 in CA.
I mean I'm not a Republican who supports free markets, I'm a monarchist and ultra traditionalist who supports social justice founded upon Catholic doctrine, including care for the poor and uplifting the marginalized. Market liberalism has done nothing to promote fair and moral societies.
Art is priceless, it cannot be sold. Nor should it be entrusted to those who have no appreciation for it and will likely destroy it. Even the poor like to look at beautiful things and having them in Churches ensures that they do not have any barriers to prevent them from viewing beauty.
Yes a moral society would be one founded upon Catholic principles and the Carlist beliefs I support reflect said beliefs. An emphasis on community, solidarity, concern for the well being of others is a foundational part of being Christian, loving one's neighbor and expressing charity and are expressed in their support for distributism. Carlism also supports a corporatist economic system as opposed to capitalism as a means of preventing class warfare and ensuring social stability. Carlism supports the rights of workers to fair wages and acknowledges the moral collective duty members of a society have to ensure stability of the society and welfare of all. Corporations are to be regulated to prevent abuse and exploitation in addition to preventing corporations from promoting the abandonment of traditions in particular of local regions. Carlists of course support the restoration of a monarchy that derives its authority from God, and is opposed to the liberal and relativistic nature of democracy due to its failure to preserve traditions, effectively carry out change, and its historic hostility to religion in particular the Catholic Church. Carlism seeks to advance interests of the Church and also wants to empower local regions to make their own choices that best suit their traditions and needs. It is a devoutly Catholic movement that of course supports all the social and moral beliefs of the Church.
The author writes "In [1968], the world population was about 3.5 billion people; today it is about 8 billion." Well, that doesn't look like much of a decline to me. I remember California in 1968 when there was a lot more available (and affordable) housing and there was much less traffic. Likewise, the author bemoans America's falling birth rate (1.62 per woman) while also complaining about an "open border" where "the estimate is that 10 million people have come across the border" since 2020. Doing the math, that rate of immigration compensates America for about 6,172,840 selfish women who have decided not to give birth, feed, clothe, shelter, and educate our next generation of wage slaves. Calls to close and secure the border to stop this flood of (Brown) immigration, coupled with the SCOTUS Dodds decision and State bans on contraceptives, appear to be an attempt by some of those in powerful to reverse America's downward (White) birthing trend - "America needs Breeders, NOT readers!" - seems to be their motto. Perhaps young, fertile White females could be kept in camps where they would be able to graduate from high school only AFTER they have given birth to at least 3 children? Or, should America revise Brigham Young's "religious polygamy" and only allow a vetted male with good genes to breed several vetted females? Men and women with bad genes could be sterilized. This practice would not only eliminate inheritable diseases, it would also fulfill the Biblical mandate "to be fruitful and multiply." Closing the universities to women might also help to raise the birth rate, since the more education a woman receives, the less likely she is to breed like a rabbit.
Well, with the heinous attack on women's reproductive rights and men like Harrison Butker making insanely offensive comments to young women, many women are forgoing having sex with men altogether. South Korea, the country noted with the lowest birthrate has a successful 4B movement, with young women who are fed UP with men behaving badly and treating them poorly. They are not dating, not marrying and not having children. They are taking their control back. The movement has spread to the U.S. One look at social barometers like TikTok and you will see it clearly. Women are fed UP. Men take note.
1) Do we really want more people? How many people can Earth, infrastructure sustain? Economists and those in business want and need more people to grow their portfolios. Environmentalists and others desire manageable, livable communities with a stabilized population.
2) When will the pyramid scheme collapse of advocating conception to tax the youth to support the elders?
3) When will ‘religious Christian Americans and physicians’ acknowledge that “Reproductive health services are” not “code for abortion” which you — a general physician — claim that they are. I, like hundreds of millions of females, obtained reproductive health services totally unrelated to abortion.
In 1968, within about 56 years, 3.5B people morphed into 8B, a 130% increase and you still want more growth — presumably wage earning, tax paying Christians, not more aliens crossing our open borders.
In CA, the last statewide general plan was written in 1950 under then Gov Pat Brown for a maximum carrying capacity of 30M. Our state government refuses to update the comprehensive general plan to identify infrastructure needs rather chooses to focus primarily on housing, without regard to infrastructure or carrying capacity.
We are now at about 38M plus another estimated 5M undocumented alien residents. How many more do you want in CA? How many more illiterates do we need to clean homes and to do back breaking manual labor?
I value safety, my car, passable streets, beauty, open land, nature, and the structural foundation of Western Civilization which requires a disproportionate amount of resources to maintain. I hate the crowds and crowding behaviors of India; the massive high rises in most every city in China; the realities of young females in Somalia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and elsewhere. I’m always happy to return to quiet Santa Barbara County from the excitement of a few weeks in Manhattan. I ask you: How many is enough?
BTW: Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) has merged with NumbersUSA. Major Donors decided stabilizing Blue Sanctuary California is hopeless.
If Reproductive services include the use of contraceptives like IUD, "day after" pills, condoms, birth control etc they are inherently sinful and degenerate and in fact promote the unsafe sexual practices that lead to people seeking an abortion, abortion for most is simply a means to rid themselves of the consequences of their actions.
NO. just NO. "Sinful" is only if you are religious, which many are not. You CANNOT force a religious belief on a population in this country. This is America. We have freedom FROM religion and the choice to live our lives how we see fit. You think birth control is degenerate? My God. How backwards. How utterly reprehensible.
I can't enforce practices in my religion on others,that doesn't mean I can't support policies espoused by my faith. Opposing the use of contraceptives isn't enforcing my religion on others. Not using theose devices is not religious at all, I just use a religious justification to not use said devices.
It IS if Republican lawmakers are taking up that cause and making laws on contraception, as they currently are doing. The anti-choice movement is emboldened, funded and strong. They are pushing to outlaw abortion pills and many forms of contraception and women's reproductive healthcare, so YES, it IS forcing your religion onto unwilling victims.
That's not how that works, it is perfectly justified to push measures onto anyone and justify them on religious and moral grounds. There is no moral right to abortion, there is no religious right to abortion. Again, I'm not forcing you to be a Catholic, I am simply safe guarding the lives of the unborn.
My first in-depth foray into a Middle Eastern country (Jordan) happened shortly after Sept 11, 2001. That was when I became acquainted with this area's very high birth rates - at least 5-6 children per family easily. A man's wealth was still measured in the number of children he had. At that time, I speculated what would happen in 20 years when that many young people were born into this unstable region with few economic opportunities. 20 years have now come and gone. And we now know what happened.
Gaza also exploded from one million to two million person in the past decade, so now most are under the age of 21 and they too have out-stripped their local resources. Many of our own illegal open border crossers come from very high birth rate countries, which the typically replicate during their first generation living in this country. I contend low birth rates are not universal, but continued high birth rates in other countries in fact fuel these current and unsustainable global migration patterns into western countries.
Another retrospective is moving from having children as natural part of human relationships to the post 1960's "Pill" generation(and ready access to abortion), when suddenly a child in most western countries becomes a "wanted" child, which inadvertently placed equally unsupportable burdens on both parents and that one "chosen" child.
This was also readily seen in travels to China when it was emerging from their strict communist era and into their own more affluent and one-child era - watching parents becoming slaves to their one child's impetuous demands. Let alone absorbing their highly skewed male-female ratios when suddenly the far fewer numbers of "girl babies" later became premium commodities. While at the same time, their society could not absorb the higher numbers of young males with no marriage prospects within the country now materially lacking similar numbers of women.
How much did the past few decades of "social engineering" (better living through modern chemistry), affect the elemental act of human reproduction that put us where we are today? And of course, where would we be today had China not imposed their one child policy, and continued with their own exponential growth within their own borders?
China ships out its surplus male population around the world to build ‘goodwill’ infrastructure projects; and most recently, in mass to cross our open border. How many of these Chinese aliens will marry an American female?
Isn’t decreasing population the goal of the Deep State and their Democrat puppets?
They started the “there’s not enough food” lies. Just like they started the whole world be under water from global warming lies while they buy their beach houses & fly around in their private jets.
Started back in the 70s when Carter took office and made it so expensive that mom had to go get a job to afford groceries.
Until Carter interest rates had never been that high. And we are on a repeat of that now. Thank you Biden the new Jimmy Carter.
Then kids were too expensive.
Then the non existent women’s right to work push. I say non existence because women are not defending women’s sports & women’s rights where did the women go?
Then the push of abortion and normalizing abortion as a form of birth control. Let’s call it what it is. 93% of women get an abortion citing a child would be inconvenient per the CDC &!Guttmacher Institute.
Most recently the forced experimental drug to combat COVID. Yes it was experimental and never completed medical trials. We have seen a sharp
Increase in miscarriages and fertility issues since the jab.
Then there’s the false advertising of planned parenthood which only promotes abortions & does not discuss or help anyone be a parent.
And the Transgender movement where they say a 14 year old can elect gender reassignment without parental consent without the parent knowing. But that 14 yr old can’t drink, vote, buy a gun or legally enter into a contract. But they can make the most important decision of their lives an irreversible decision without their parent. Yes they lie about being able to reverse “gender affirming care”.
Thank you, Dr. Aijian for another thoughtful, important piece. Reading through the comments I found it interesting how many centered on affordable housing. Is this all that occurs to some people on reading about population? How narcissistic can readers be? The main theme I took away from Dr. Aijian's piece was the spiritual dimension surrounding issues and questions about population. I don't belong to any organized religion, and I don't have children, nor have I ever longed for either. I do, however, see the Leftist doctrine about population control to be about much more than they pretend it is - it's not really about saving the planet, it's about the Left trying to seize control of the planet. The Left doesn't believe in God because they believe they are God. The Left is waging a spiritual war, not an environmental program, through their attempts to control population increase.
Hungary has led the way with government benefits encouraging stable 2-parent families, with tax incentives and even giving parents of a third child a new minivan. In the United States we reward with welfare subsidy the single mother, leading to the phenomenon of generations of boys growing up without a male role model in the home. You get what you pay for.
And please remember, any FT MOM gives up social security. For single and/or divorced moms the reduced or non-existent social security may result in van life in a parking lot here in your elder years. The Soc Security Ponzi Program is an essential revenue source for some FT 24/7 stay-at-home moms. Reality is American doesn’t want FT moms anymore. Government schools raise/train/ indoctrinate/ teach the children.
Facts't ? We don't need no stinkin facts.
CAB has had incredible people on our Board, and the facts were 25 years ago the "Stack'm & Pack'm" cities and urban planning were and are doomed to failure. Why? Did you read this article?
The population decline, as the Boomers had fewer children, and your grand children are not having replacement kids will eventually lead to enough housing, streets, etc. for people to live in.
The Sky is Falling factions have done everything they could to ignore the mathematical calculations that were being taught in colleges going back to the 1960's. Now faced with the reality of today populations they are crying foul (not to be called fowl).
Open the border, destroy the cohesive culture that created the Greatest Generation, tax the population for welfare, medical, and housing for people who cannot make it.
The Latest Headline.........this piece is right. The failed leadership in Sacramento is spending Billions of dollars, and created a massive debt the now aging workers cannot cover.
Thank you for this.
What's the issue with taxing a populace to assist the most vulnerable? Assisting the vulnerable and less fortunate is very much a biblical belief and is mentioned in both the Old and New Testament.
We have lost sight of the line between "protecting the vulnerable" (which we already do) and encouraging irresponsible choices with no consequences. (which we also do). Help us find the right mix of responses.
The post by J. Livingston that “we already do” protect the vulnerable in the United States, needs further clarification.
Child Protective Services and Santa Barbara County Director of Social Services have addressed CA dogs are protected better than our children. Laws have not been written or amended since the 1950s, or enforced. Social workers have excessively high caseloads: image 35 kids with different needs. Locally we have hundreds of “undesired” minors that we must ship off to other counties to obtain even minimal, inadequate care and supervision. My 12-year old Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) child was sent to juvenile hall then Los Prietos where beds 18” apart. No wonder STD is rampant. A life changing unwanted experience for him.
A child is only protected by an involved, 24/7 committed parent which most children lack after age 10 — if in fact the minor American child ever had such a parent thru elementary school. Too many are waifs. The author writes “the answer to increased human fecundity is all around us. And that’s a good thing.” I respectfully disagree.
Not everyone who is homeless is homeless as a result of personal actions, my family became homeless last year because of the predatory tactic of renoviction, wr always payed our rent on time for 19 years before then, but after the old landlord died our new landlord moved in and promptly wanted us out.
"Renoviction is not a predatory practice. Demanding subsidized housing from your landlord in a premium area is predatory.
Sorry but as a Carlist I reject such measures that serve to further atomize communities and exacerbate housing inequality. Market liberalism and libertarian beliefs are not friendly to Catholic social teachings and so I will continue to reject them and favor the welfare of people over profit.
For some reason I got a message that SB Current has blocked me from liking this comment, so I'm here to say I like what you said, @TheotokosAPpreciator. The basic kindness of taking care of the poor is a tenet of any successful civilization.
We had the privilege of raising 4 children, all of whom launched into marriage and have so far produced 11 grandchildren. It is such a blessing and increasingly rare...so many of our boomer friends have few, if any, married kids (now in their late 30/40's). We think it is the result of a cultural FOMO, that fooled our society into believing that indulging self was a more valuable pursuit than sacrificing for, and investing in, a meaningful group...in this case, family. We can attest that exhaustion from active, present grandparenting is an alchemic joy unspeakable.
Elon Musk is of the same opinion and has encouraged those who can to have a lot of children.
He leads by example
Ok Sbcureent, time for an article on Elon Musk’s use of ketamine
Great article. Dr.A! By the way Grub Hub and Door Dash are hiring those Chinese that are crossing our border. https://x.com/realmuckraker/status/1790536887343481060
good article on declining population…unfortunately, the depopulation agenda is one of the main goals of the CCP (+++) communist insurgency that began in the 1950s…
We are now suffering the height of the communist insurgency…irregular warfare at it’s finest…
“Insurgency is the organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge political control of a region. As such, it is primarily a political struggle, in which both sides use armed force to create space for their political, economic and influence activities to be effective. Insurgency is not always conducted by a single group with a centralized, military-style command structure, but may involve a complex matrix of different actors with various aims, loosely connected in dynamic and non-hierarchical networks. To be successful, insurgencies require charismatic leadership, supporters, recruits, supplies, safe havens and funding (often from illicit activities). They only need the active support of a few enabling individuals, but the passive acquiescence of a large proportion of the contested population will give a higher probability of success. This is best achieved when the political cause of the insurgency has strong appeal, manipulating religious, tribal or local identity to exploit common societal grievances or needs. Insurgents seek to gain control of populations through a combination of persuasion, subversion and coercion while using guerrilla tactics to offset the strengths of government security forces. Their intent is usually to protract the struggle, exhaust the government and win sufficient popular support to force capitulation or political accommodation. Consequently, insurgencies evolve through a series of stages, though the progression and outcome will be different in almost every case.”
the good news is that we have Great Patriots leading the counter insurgency…
https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/119629.pdf
the difficult news is that these evildoers have captured nearly all nations of The World…the evil that now envelops the world can be traced back to the Khazars — the death cult that goes back 1,000s of years…for those interested, Veterans Today has many articles detailing the Khazarian Mafia [KM]…
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2015/03/08/the-hidden-history-of-the-incredibly-evil-khazarian-mafia/
How many people can be stuffed into a phone booth? The answer would be an infinite number if we were to believe Dr. Aijian's hypothesis. But, unfortunately, this is not reality for humanity on our lovely but finite planet Earth. Despite our decreasing global total fertility rate--from 4.95 in 1950 to 2.45 today--we are still adding some 2.37 people per second, this because we have three times as many people giving birth today. That's some 220,000--or the approximate populations of Goleta plus Santa Barbara plus Santa Maria--each and every day. And this equates to a "new" Germany or a "new" Iran and their 80m-ish each and every year. Or, a "new" U.S. and its 330m each time we hold a presidential election. And most of these poor souls are born into one of the world's many and growing megaslums.
Dr. Aijian claims that Paul Ehrlich erred in his "Population Bomb" research, but the fact of the matter is that Ehrlich underestimated the impact the "Green Revolution" would temporarily have on food production through the use of synthetic fertilizers, modern irrigation and farming technologies. But by all scientific accounts we've reached the end of that boom, especially as fresh water sources have largely been tapped out, arable land is on a precipitous decline (30% by the end of this century, all while our food needs are expected to double), and phosphorous and nitrogen-rich effluent runoff from farms and agriculture has created more than 600 hypoxic oceanic "dead zones" the world 'round wherein sea life can no longer survive.
For those who care to "connect the dots" between our rampant growth and the adverse impact it has on our environment they might want to check out the World Wildlife Fund's "Living Planet Report" which shows that global vertebrate numbers have plummeted over 60% since 1970, all while our human population has more that doubled. Coincidence? Sadly not. Rather this has to do with the fact that humanity's insatiable expansion gobbles up some 27 football fields worth of habitat every minute to accommodate our 1.1% annual population increase. And this, of course, is exactly why we are presently losing some 150 of Earth's estimated 8 million species per day, which is about 1,000 times the natural "background" extinction rate, and could result in the loss of between 12% to 40% of all earthly life forms by 2100, including 81% of amphibians and fresh water fish. And the prospects for the century after this look even more grim. Put another way: we currently consume approximately 70% more resources than our planet can sustainably regenerate. And, exacerbating matters, not only is our population still growing, but so is world-wide per capita consumption.
Verily, we are at the threshold of what's been termed the "Sixth Mass Extinction Event" but unlike the five preceding this one, ours is purely "anthropogenic"--i.e., human-caused.
So ask yourself, and please be honest, will adding more people do anything to resolve the massive and desperate migrations of people the world around? Or how about plastic waste, homelessness, climate change, wildfires, traffic gridlock, loss of wilderness open space, climate change, crime, floods, road rage, pandemics, ocean acidification and its subsequent coral reef die-offs, famine, war, ad infinitum, ad nauseam? I think not.
In fact, the only argument for increasing our population is so nations can keep funding their ever-growing entitlement obligations through the ever-increasing tax revenues generated by younger working generations. But is this form of classical neo-liberal capitalism--this endless behavior of "kicking the can down the road"--sustainable on a finite planet? Spoiler alert: nope.
Hope this helps. (BTW: I bet this post doesn't get one of those cute little heart "liked" emojis awarded to it by those openminded folks at SBCurrents.)
Nice thought provoking article.
The issues you bring up are valid. The homeless issue in Santa Barbara was covered by local charities and churches. These groups then decided that they needed "government" to step in and fund the issue. With that, the word was out and Santa Barbara became a magnet for those who did not, would not work, or wanted an addiction pay check.
Since when is it the job of government to tell taxpayers they have no choice, and government will by dictate take their money, goods, or services? Once that step is taken where is the limit of government overreach? Interesting intellectual challenge isn't it.
If you as a person wish to dedicate your time, effort, and wealth to help people it is your choice. Don't depend on government to demand it, and organizations that take truck loads of tax money to exist, and then beat their collective chests as to how wonderful they are.
A government has a moral responsibility to care for and uplift its citizens, especially the least privileged. The America you promote seems one that idolizes hyper individualism and is anything but Christian.
The "government" is providing this opportunity in the form of universal free public education, including two years of low cost community colleges. How far should we be asked to rescue those who chose to not take advantage of what is already on the table, and at great tax payer expense?
This country comes with both rights and duties. The goal of the ADA legislation passed during the Nixon administration was to ensure there were no barriers to accessing these opportunities. Imposing a "guilt trip" only on providers is the wrong direction to take. It is time to put a guilt trip on those who refuse to help themselves.
"The Church’s interest in temporal things includes man’s political and economic life, both of which are governed by principles of justice. As spoken about in previous articles, both capitalist and socialist economic systems attempt to separate ethics from their systems, leading to corruption and injustice. By participating in either of these two economic frameworks is in itself a hinderance to the pursuit of salvation.
The Church, therefore, has lauded Distributism as an ethical alternative to these two systems. In the next section, passages from numerous Papal encyclicals will help demonstrate how the core principles of distributism have been promoted by the church over the past century and how these principles align perfectly with church social teachings.
Passages Relating to Distributism from Papal Encyclicals
Pope Leo, XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891)
That right to property, therefore, which has been proved to belong naturally to individual persons, must likewise belong to a man in his capacity of head of a family; nay, that right is all the stronger in proportion as the human person receives a wider extension in the family group.
If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income. Nature itself would urge him to this. We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners.
Many excellent results will follow from this; and, first of all, property will certainly become more equitably divided."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.iamcatholic.co/amp/distributism-the-catholic-economy?espv=1
You chose to be a renter. You choose housing instability. You chose to not move to an area more in line with your own skills set. And now you demand others to remedy your own choices?
"choose" to be a renter??? You seriously did NOT just say that! California median home prices just rose above the $900k mark. You think everyone can just choose to be a homeowner? How OUT OF TOUCH can you be?
You chose to live in Santa Barbara. It is all about choices. Not about demands to be subsidized for your own choices. This choice might not be the best fit for you apparently.
Some of us would not mind if Santa Barbara slipped back into its more sleepy backwater model from a few decades ago. So being asked to subsidize high-employee demand businesses in order in order to support a current city revenue tax base, is not a winning argument to stay on this subsidized housing growth merry-go-round.
Why is personal choice and responsibility such an incredulous option for you, SS?
So then what do you thinknof those in Santa Barbara who work in say retail, hospitality, cleaning, restaurants? Santa Barbara has a large tourism industry and yet the people who ensure staff these industries most likely can't afford to purchase a house, so rent is their only option for housing. Why should they be expected to pay exorbitant prices for mediocre, small apartments. If they leave, what then, will the middle class take up these now vacant roles? Will the wealthiest work for minimum wage to make sure that these industries keep running?
Contemporary conservatives and libertarians seem far more conecred with maximum profits than of the dignity of man.
Why should we be expected to subsidize poor business plans? The burden is on the businesses to provide for their own overhead associated with that business plan. Or else give us an equity stake in any business that expects us to subsidize their employees.
Yours is a very distorted argument leading no where. Let the market forces prevail, rather than choosing more micro-managed nanny states distorted to march to your own personal agenda. You made a poor personal housing choice for this area, and now you expect someone else to bail you out?
Downside of current "student loan" culture was losing college age employees, happy to get the flexible hours and often meals-benefited jobs in the local hospitality industry, as they "worked their way through college". Learning valuable jobs skills that may well have exceeded what they were learning in the classrooms, in life -long practical terms. Many of us have been there and done that.
SB Current is censoring me by prohibiting me to like any of TheotokosAppreciator's posts. I want you all to know that I concur with what this person is saying.
I agree, 100%! It is a moral responsibility of our government and citizens to care for and uplift its people! Republicans have lost sight of this, if it ever was in their view to begin with. Voting to take money from schools and giving tax breaks to the most wealthy in our society are utter failings of morality and general decency.
Republicansdo support capitalism, which is on record having moved more people into the middle class and out of poverty than any other economic system. They have not lost rights of this remarkable engine for upward mobility for those who can and do take advantage of it. You err claiming otherwise.
Otherwise, fixed economic stratification based upon birth station is the other major operating alternative in much of the world. Staying mired in only resentful class envy is a dead end. Bloom where you are planted, and also where you chose to stay.
SS: In California, no money is "taken from schools" since Prop 98 guarantees public education gets their 50% share of general fund revenues right off the top.
State revenues do go up and down, but that is not taking anything away from anyone.However, the volatility of state revenues can be a direct reflection of the state business climate. Therefore it is unproductive to attack the state business climate, at the same time voters want to attack decreased state tax revenues. One or the other, please.
No other state entity is as generously as Prop 98 public education. Other than the guaranteed defined-benefit public pension payouts, who also get paid in full regardless of the performance of their pension fund investments to be able to pay that full amount. The short-fall in government pension funding then lands on the taxpayers. But the pension holders do get paid in full. As long as there is OPM to pay them.
There are no "tax breaks for the rich" in your zero sum game. There is simply the tax code, written by our elected representatives. . Your argument is intentionally polarizing. What are you really trying to say?
Don’t you mean, the UniParty composed of career politicians and bureaucrats, NGOs, have lost sight of caring for citizens and uplifting people? Self reliance is (or was) possible to attained following a taxpayer funded, free public education thru grade 12 nationally, and free thru grade 14 in CA.
I mean I'm not a Republican who supports free markets, I'm a monarchist and ultra traditionalist who supports social justice founded upon Catholic doctrine, including care for the poor and uplifting the marginalized. Market liberalism has done nothing to promote fair and moral societies.
Perhaps the Vatican can sell its substantial art collection and real property scattered around the world to better carry out its stated mission?
Can you describe a "fair and moral society" without the use of OPM? Tell us how this works in your scheme of things or is your goal only aspirational?
No idea what the hell OPM is either.
Art is priceless, it cannot be sold. Nor should it be entrusted to those who have no appreciation for it and will likely destroy it. Even the poor like to look at beautiful things and having them in Churches ensures that they do not have any barriers to prevent them from viewing beauty.
Yes a moral society would be one founded upon Catholic principles and the Carlist beliefs I support reflect said beliefs. An emphasis on community, solidarity, concern for the well being of others is a foundational part of being Christian, loving one's neighbor and expressing charity and are expressed in their support for distributism. Carlism also supports a corporatist economic system as opposed to capitalism as a means of preventing class warfare and ensuring social stability. Carlism supports the rights of workers to fair wages and acknowledges the moral collective duty members of a society have to ensure stability of the society and welfare of all. Corporations are to be regulated to prevent abuse and exploitation in addition to preventing corporations from promoting the abandonment of traditions in particular of local regions. Carlists of course support the restoration of a monarchy that derives its authority from God, and is opposed to the liberal and relativistic nature of democracy due to its failure to preserve traditions, effectively carry out change, and its historic hostility to religion in particular the Catholic Church. Carlism seeks to advance interests of the Church and also wants to empower local regions to make their own choices that best suit their traditions and needs. It is a devoutly Catholic movement that of course supports all the social and moral beliefs of the Church.
Keep telling us about the morality of the Catholic church... please.
Well said, Dr. Aijian!!!
The author writes "In [1968], the world population was about 3.5 billion people; today it is about 8 billion." Well, that doesn't look like much of a decline to me. I remember California in 1968 when there was a lot more available (and affordable) housing and there was much less traffic. Likewise, the author bemoans America's falling birth rate (1.62 per woman) while also complaining about an "open border" where "the estimate is that 10 million people have come across the border" since 2020. Doing the math, that rate of immigration compensates America for about 6,172,840 selfish women who have decided not to give birth, feed, clothe, shelter, and educate our next generation of wage slaves. Calls to close and secure the border to stop this flood of (Brown) immigration, coupled with the SCOTUS Dodds decision and State bans on contraceptives, appear to be an attempt by some of those in powerful to reverse America's downward (White) birthing trend - "America needs Breeders, NOT readers!" - seems to be their motto. Perhaps young, fertile White females could be kept in camps where they would be able to graduate from high school only AFTER they have given birth to at least 3 children? Or, should America revise Brigham Young's "religious polygamy" and only allow a vetted male with good genes to breed several vetted females? Men and women with bad genes could be sterilized. This practice would not only eliminate inheritable diseases, it would also fulfill the Biblical mandate "to be fruitful and multiply." Closing the universities to women might also help to raise the birth rate, since the more education a woman receives, the less likely she is to breed like a rabbit.
Only a degenerate would promote polygyny, especially one who likes bisexual women. Eugh.
Well, with the heinous attack on women's reproductive rights and men like Harrison Butker making insanely offensive comments to young women, many women are forgoing having sex with men altogether. South Korea, the country noted with the lowest birthrate has a successful 4B movement, with young women who are fed UP with men behaving badly and treating them poorly. They are not dating, not marrying and not having children. They are taking their control back. The movement has spread to the U.S. One look at social barometers like TikTok and you will see it clearly. Women are fed UP. Men take note.
You covered most all the bases except —
1) Do we really want more people? How many people can Earth, infrastructure sustain? Economists and those in business want and need more people to grow their portfolios. Environmentalists and others desire manageable, livable communities with a stabilized population.
2) When will the pyramid scheme collapse of advocating conception to tax the youth to support the elders?
3) When will ‘religious Christian Americans and physicians’ acknowledge that “Reproductive health services are” not “code for abortion” which you — a general physician — claim that they are. I, like hundreds of millions of females, obtained reproductive health services totally unrelated to abortion.
In 1968, within about 56 years, 3.5B people morphed into 8B, a 130% increase and you still want more growth — presumably wage earning, tax paying Christians, not more aliens crossing our open borders.
In CA, the last statewide general plan was written in 1950 under then Gov Pat Brown for a maximum carrying capacity of 30M. Our state government refuses to update the comprehensive general plan to identify infrastructure needs rather chooses to focus primarily on housing, without regard to infrastructure or carrying capacity.
We are now at about 38M plus another estimated 5M undocumented alien residents. How many more do you want in CA? How many more illiterates do we need to clean homes and to do back breaking manual labor?
I value safety, my car, passable streets, beauty, open land, nature, and the structural foundation of Western Civilization which requires a disproportionate amount of resources to maintain. I hate the crowds and crowding behaviors of India; the massive high rises in most every city in China; the realities of young females in Somalia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and elsewhere. I’m always happy to return to quiet Santa Barbara County from the excitement of a few weeks in Manhattan. I ask you: How many is enough?
BTW: Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) has merged with NumbersUSA. Major Donors decided stabilizing Blue Sanctuary California is hopeless.
If Reproductive services include the use of contraceptives like IUD, "day after" pills, condoms, birth control etc they are inherently sinful and degenerate and in fact promote the unsafe sexual practices that lead to people seeking an abortion, abortion for most is simply a means to rid themselves of the consequences of their actions.
NO. just NO. "Sinful" is only if you are religious, which many are not. You CANNOT force a religious belief on a population in this country. This is America. We have freedom FROM religion and the choice to live our lives how we see fit. You think birth control is degenerate? My God. How backwards. How utterly reprehensible.
I can't enforce practices in my religion on others,that doesn't mean I can't support policies espoused by my faith. Opposing the use of contraceptives isn't enforcing my religion on others. Not using theose devices is not religious at all, I just use a religious justification to not use said devices.
It IS if Republican lawmakers are taking up that cause and making laws on contraception, as they currently are doing. The anti-choice movement is emboldened, funded and strong. They are pushing to outlaw abortion pills and many forms of contraception and women's reproductive healthcare, so YES, it IS forcing your religion onto unwilling victims.
That's not how that works, it is perfectly justified to push measures onto anyone and justify them on religious and moral grounds. There is no moral right to abortion, there is no religious right to abortion. Again, I'm not forcing you to be a Catholic, I am simply safe guarding the lives of the unborn.
My first in-depth foray into a Middle Eastern country (Jordan) happened shortly after Sept 11, 2001. That was when I became acquainted with this area's very high birth rates - at least 5-6 children per family easily. A man's wealth was still measured in the number of children he had. At that time, I speculated what would happen in 20 years when that many young people were born into this unstable region with few economic opportunities. 20 years have now come and gone. And we now know what happened.
Gaza also exploded from one million to two million person in the past decade, so now most are under the age of 21 and they too have out-stripped their local resources. Many of our own illegal open border crossers come from very high birth rate countries, which the typically replicate during their first generation living in this country. I contend low birth rates are not universal, but continued high birth rates in other countries in fact fuel these current and unsustainable global migration patterns into western countries.
Another retrospective is moving from having children as natural part of human relationships to the post 1960's "Pill" generation(and ready access to abortion), when suddenly a child in most western countries becomes a "wanted" child, which inadvertently placed equally unsupportable burdens on both parents and that one "chosen" child.
This was also readily seen in travels to China when it was emerging from their strict communist era and into their own more affluent and one-child era - watching parents becoming slaves to their one child's impetuous demands. Let alone absorbing their highly skewed male-female ratios when suddenly the far fewer numbers of "girl babies" later became premium commodities. While at the same time, their society could not absorb the higher numbers of young males with no marriage prospects within the country now materially lacking similar numbers of women.
How much did the past few decades of "social engineering" (better living through modern chemistry), affect the elemental act of human reproduction that put us where we are today? And of course, where would we be today had China not imposed their one child policy, and continued with their own exponential growth within their own borders?
China ships out its surplus male population around the world to build ‘goodwill’ infrastructure projects; and most recently, in mass to cross our open border. How many of these Chinese aliens will marry an American female?
Isn’t decreasing population the goal of the Deep State and their Democrat puppets?
They started the “there’s not enough food” lies. Just like they started the whole world be under water from global warming lies while they buy their beach houses & fly around in their private jets.
Started back in the 70s when Carter took office and made it so expensive that mom had to go get a job to afford groceries.
Until Carter interest rates had never been that high. And we are on a repeat of that now. Thank you Biden the new Jimmy Carter.
Then kids were too expensive.
Then the non existent women’s right to work push. I say non existence because women are not defending women’s sports & women’s rights where did the women go?
Then the push of abortion and normalizing abortion as a form of birth control. Let’s call it what it is. 93% of women get an abortion citing a child would be inconvenient per the CDC &!Guttmacher Institute.
Most recently the forced experimental drug to combat COVID. Yes it was experimental and never completed medical trials. We have seen a sharp
Increase in miscarriages and fertility issues since the jab.
Then there’s the false advertising of planned parenthood which only promotes abortions & does not discuss or help anyone be a parent.
And the Transgender movement where they say a 14 year old can elect gender reassignment without parental consent without the parent knowing. But that 14 yr old can’t drink, vote, buy a gun or legally enter into a contract. But they can make the most important decision of their lives an irreversible decision without their parent. Yes they lie about being able to reverse “gender affirming care”.
Shall I keep going?
Thank you, Dr. Aijian for another thoughtful, important piece. Reading through the comments I found it interesting how many centered on affordable housing. Is this all that occurs to some people on reading about population? How narcissistic can readers be? The main theme I took away from Dr. Aijian's piece was the spiritual dimension surrounding issues and questions about population. I don't belong to any organized religion, and I don't have children, nor have I ever longed for either. I do, however, see the Leftist doctrine about population control to be about much more than they pretend it is - it's not really about saving the planet, it's about the Left trying to seize control of the planet. The Left doesn't believe in God because they believe they are God. The Left is waging a spiritual war, not an environmental program, through their attempts to control population increase.