Well, all that "de-growth" nonsense is now starting to come home to roost! After all, with older populations exiting the workforce (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-age-of-the-population-in-every-country/), who is going to, in the Ponzi scheme known as welfare and pensions, going to pay all those taxes? With developed countries having birthrates from 0.8 to 1.7 (with 2.1 just needed for replacement - e.g., no growth), there's only one solution to this situation:
SEX! LOTS OF PROCREATIVE SEX!
It won't help for about 20 years but enough of this "kids? oh, how yucky that I have to give my glorious lifestyle to take care of these "things" that will only cramp my style...".
For the US at least, the only likely solution is more immigration. The likelihood of significantly increasing the birth rate is low. Even in countries with a robust, family friendly social welfare scheme, birthrates are below replacement level.
Fifteen years ago, before I retired, I represented some undocumented immigrants, including a wrongful death case. I spent some time interviewing the victim's co-workers in nursing homes. This was in an affluent Boston suburb. All of the Certified Nursing Assistants and most of the nurses were foreign born and many of them were undocumented.
If any of us end up in a nursing home, the person wiping our butt will almost certainly be an immigrant. We better figure out a way for them to be here legally.
The problem with illegal immigration is that of assimilation. With adopting our norms, our laws, and the like, just importing bodies solves nothing.
Look at Germany where lots of those "immigrants" from Islamic states decided that German norms and government MUST be replaced with a Caliphate:
"Thousands of protesters marched through Hamburg over the weekend calling for an Islamic state in Germany and clutching signs that declared, “Caliphate is the solution.”
Videos of the Saturday rally showed demonstrators chanting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” and carrying copies of the local tabloid newspaper, Bild, with stories about Islam that had been smeared with red paint."
Sorry, but looking for more immigration is just a bandaid on the Societal illness/suicide that the West is exhibiting. Lloyd is trying to merely manage the decline while immigration (and YES, I am FOR legal immigration and against having illegal aliens flowing over our southern and northern borders) is merely the exclamation of a dying society that "we're giving up - take over".
After all, here in the US, the number of illegal immigrants can now be estimated at around 54 million in a country of approx 340 million.
If there is no assimilation (as opposed to "I just want a better live") that acknowledges WHY we have better lives here in the US than from the places they've left, we'll only see, over the years, the places they left here.
I strongly suspect that 54 million is nonsense. But I'd gladly trade 54 million Trump supporters for 54 million people who walked thousands of miles through the jungle because they want to live here.
There are plenty of Muslim immigrants, documented and not, here in Maine who are assimilating just fine. Frankly, I'm much more scared of Christians imposing their beliefs on me. Are there any states that require every school to post ten islamic commandments?
1) given that you keep referring to them as undocumented (SJW for "they didn't go through the legal process to enter the USA but euphemisms are better for my argument and presenation), should I assume that Open Borders is a fine thing? Tell me, if it is, how many other countries allow it?
2) I'm going to defer to Lloyd on this but I'll ask - what is it about Trump supporters that you hate? And how do you define a "Trump supporter"? What are their attributes, say, in comparison to a Progressive Democrat? What is the diff between the belief systems or holdings?
Trump supporters don't have a belief system any more than Trump does. It's all about hate, vengeance and retribution, to use Trump's words. He'll sell us out to Putin if he thinks it will benefit Trump.
Progressives think we should have a national health system. We think climate change is a danger that should be addressed. We think our country should be much more welcoming to immigrants. We think K-12 education should be a government function.and religion should stay out.
Couldn’t agree more with your ideas about what needs to be done. I think the probability of it happening in the time frame you are talking about is approaching zero. Despite all the lessons of history and our alleged ability to reason we remain a reactive rather than proactive species. We will let it all go to hell in a hand basket first then scramble to fix our mess then pat ourselves on the back for the great job we have done and then return to our slumber until we fall of the next cliff.
I heard professor Foot 20+ years ago & it was a wake-up call. One element in addressing this issue is renovating North American suburbs by renovating Shopping Malls & Retail Plazas. Too many of these existing properties are both isolated from their surrounding neighbourhoods, & being car (today read SUV/Pick-up Truck) focused. There are both easy & difficult design solutions to address this situation. Allowing for "As of Right" residential to be added to these properties is one way. Many of these developments have turned their backs on the neighbourhoods they serve, but fixing that issue will take a lot more work.
Well, all that "de-growth" nonsense is now starting to come home to roost! After all, with older populations exiting the workforce (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-age-of-the-population-in-every-country/), who is going to, in the Ponzi scheme known as welfare and pensions, going to pay all those taxes? With developed countries having birthrates from 0.8 to 1.7 (with 2.1 just needed for replacement - e.g., no growth), there's only one solution to this situation:
SEX! LOTS OF PROCREATIVE SEX!
It won't help for about 20 years but enough of this "kids? oh, how yucky that I have to give my glorious lifestyle to take care of these "things" that will only cramp my style...".
For the US at least, the only likely solution is more immigration. The likelihood of significantly increasing the birth rate is low. Even in countries with a robust, family friendly social welfare scheme, birthrates are below replacement level.
Fifteen years ago, before I retired, I represented some undocumented immigrants, including a wrongful death case. I spent some time interviewing the victim's co-workers in nursing homes. This was in an affluent Boston suburb. All of the Certified Nursing Assistants and most of the nurses were foreign born and many of them were undocumented.
If any of us end up in a nursing home, the person wiping our butt will almost certainly be an immigrant. We better figure out a way for them to be here legally.
The problem with illegal immigration is that of assimilation. With adopting our norms, our laws, and the like, just importing bodies solves nothing.
Look at Germany where lots of those "immigrants" from Islamic states decided that German norms and government MUST be replaced with a Caliphate:
"Thousands of protesters marched through Hamburg over the weekend calling for an Islamic state in Germany and clutching signs that declared, “Caliphate is the solution.”
Videos of the Saturday rally showed demonstrators chanting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” and carrying copies of the local tabloid newspaper, Bild, with stories about Islam that had been smeared with red paint."
(https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/world-news/protesters-call-for-islamic-state-in-germany-caliphate-is-the-solution/).
Sorry, but looking for more immigration is just a bandaid on the Societal illness/suicide that the West is exhibiting. Lloyd is trying to merely manage the decline while immigration (and YES, I am FOR legal immigration and against having illegal aliens flowing over our southern and northern borders) is merely the exclamation of a dying society that "we're giving up - take over".
After all, here in the US, the number of illegal immigrants can now be estimated at around 54 million in a country of approx 340 million.
If there is no assimilation (as opposed to "I just want a better live") that acknowledges WHY we have better lives here in the US than from the places they've left, we'll only see, over the years, the places they left here.
I strongly suspect that 54 million is nonsense. But I'd gladly trade 54 million Trump supporters for 54 million people who walked thousands of miles through the jungle because they want to live here.
There are plenty of Muslim immigrants, documented and not, here in Maine who are assimilating just fine. Frankly, I'm much more scared of Christians imposing their beliefs on me. Are there any states that require every school to post ten islamic commandments?
1) given that you keep referring to them as undocumented (SJW for "they didn't go through the legal process to enter the USA but euphemisms are better for my argument and presenation), should I assume that Open Borders is a fine thing? Tell me, if it is, how many other countries allow it?
2) I'm going to defer to Lloyd on this but I'll ask - what is it about Trump supporters that you hate? And how do you define a "Trump supporter"? What are their attributes, say, in comparison to a Progressive Democrat? What is the diff between the belief systems or holdings?
Trump supporters don't have a belief system any more than Trump does. It's all about hate, vengeance and retribution, to use Trump's words. He'll sell us out to Putin if he thinks it will benefit Trump.
Progressives think we should have a national health system. We think climate change is a danger that should be addressed. We think our country should be much more welcoming to immigrants. We think K-12 education should be a government function.and religion should stay out.
Couldn’t agree more with your ideas about what needs to be done. I think the probability of it happening in the time frame you are talking about is approaching zero. Despite all the lessons of history and our alleged ability to reason we remain a reactive rather than proactive species. We will let it all go to hell in a hand basket first then scramble to fix our mess then pat ourselves on the back for the great job we have done and then return to our slumber until we fall of the next cliff.
I heard professor Foot 20+ years ago & it was a wake-up call. One element in addressing this issue is renovating North American suburbs by renovating Shopping Malls & Retail Plazas. Too many of these existing properties are both isolated from their surrounding neighbourhoods, & being car (today read SUV/Pick-up Truck) focused. There are both easy & difficult design solutions to address this situation. Allowing for "As of Right" residential to be added to these properties is one way. Many of these developments have turned their backs on the neighbourhoods they serve, but fixing that issue will take a lot more work.