Mike,
I must agree with most of your logic. My parents were children of
farmers (in Georgia). They each had 9 brothers and/or sisters.
To the best of my (poor) memory when each of those children married;
they and their spouse had two children. BTW: Somewhere along the way
most of them eventually moved from Georgia to Florida; and were no
longer farmers. I am 68 and my sister is six years younger.
From my last visit (to where I grew up) I knew I did not want to live
there when I retired; plus, having spent only a few of my adult years
in the US, I made the decision to retire to the Philippines (having
visited here many times). My sister will be retiring soon, and will
be moving to a different state.
For those of us that grew up (in Florida) during the '50s and '60s, we
found the changes have been simply too great, and we no longer enjoy
the state. In my case (living outside the US, in Japan, for most of
my adult life), I chose the Philippines; she chose Arkansas.
You mentioned about the lower birth rate in America, and it's
potential damage to the elderly. We both find ourselves (me and my
sister) in the position of wondering whether all the money we gave our
government; throughout our lives, will last long enough to see us to
the grave.
IMHO: I feel the problem can't fully be blamed on fewer children born
into families; but feel that IF we could have a more honest government
(and those running large companies) there would still be enough money
for people; as they retire. - The old saying; 'The rich get richer,
and the poor get poorer' wasn't invented here, but I still remember
hearing it 'in America' when I was young.
I believe that many Americans don't actually realize how similar our
government (and big business) is to that of the Philippines. It is
just that up until the WWII era, there were large enough families to
cover-up what was going on. - It is now beginning to 'slowly' become
obvious to more Americans. - Don't they remember that with the
beginning of WWII, most families had two wage earners (husband and
wife); when before that most wives stayed at home? Why didn't our
government invest the money it took from us; instead of simply taxing
the people more; which continues to this day.
Just my thoughts on the subject. :-)
Benny
--- In LivingInThePhilippi
wrote:
>
> I know that its common to want to blame the church because of their
> position on birth control. But if you look at developed countries,
> Catholics have far fewer children than if they're from the poor
> developing countries.
>
> Around the world, the general trend is for birth rates to drop as the
> country begins to modernize. This is a slow process, because it takes
> time for cultural values to change. My grandparents were Asian
> immigrants who came to America. They respectively had 11 and 7 children
> on my dad and mom's side. My parents, second generation Americans had
> 3. If I have kids, 2 will be plenty.
>
> Children are an economic asset in poor countries. They contribute to
> wealth especially to an agricultural family. On the other hand, I grew
> up in a modern society and was a leech to my parents until my early
> 20's.
>
> I've noticed in general, that in the Philippines, wealthier urban
> families tend towards fewer children. Korea and Japan went through a
> similar transition. China mandated it and made it happen sooner. It
> also happened in the USA (look at our birth rates in the 1700 and
> 1800's and early 1900's).
>
> If true, the best strategy for slowing down population growth is the
> modernization of a country. Charity which simply feeds a hungry mouth,
> doesn't do much except result in a hungry mouth for the next day.
> Charity which helps people to 'learn how to fish' and feed themselves
> leaves people better off and not charity dependent.
>
> The one downside of this transition is that it leaves us with too few
> young people in relation to older people in a country to maintain
> Social Security type programs. Now, in America, we're beginning to see
> that more young people would be an economic asset to the retiree crowd -
> but in a different way from the RP.
>
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