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300 MILLION REASONS FOR SAD
The Washington Post anticipates 300-million misery:
When the U.S. population surpassed 200 million on a census clock in 1967, cheers rang through the lobby of the Commerce Department, and applause interrupted President Lyndon B. Johnson’s celebratory speech.
Four decades later, however, 300 million seems to be greeted more with hand-wringing ambivalence than chest-thumping pride.
“When we hit 100 million, it was a celebration of America’s might in the world,” said Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California. “When we hit 200 million, we were solidifying our position. But at 300 million, we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation.”
Degradation? A professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California in 2006 is possibly—just possibly, mind—doing better than someone in a similar role one hundred years ago, when (so far as I understand American history) professors of urban planning and demography were required to sweep horse manure by night. More from the WaPo:
How will the momentous 300-million marker be celebrated in Washington?
“Those plans, believe it or not, are still being finalized,” said Robert B. Bernstein, a Census Bureau spokesman. “I don’t yet know what, if anything, we are going to do in the way of an event.”
Well, we here will be posting pictures. Massive thanks to all who’ve so far sent wonderful images of their crushed-under-the-weight-of-degradation offspring and relatives; they’ll be presented at 9.30pm Australian eastern time.
But at 300 million, we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation.
In unrelated news, McDonald’s just announced a new healthy alternative to environmentally unsustainable beef: it’s a new type of processed food made mostly of soy and lentil beans and will come in a variety of colors. Cool!
Posted by Brian O'Connell on 2006 10 16 at 02:52 PM • permalinkHmmmm.
1. As an American citizen I vote we deport, *after* the party, the 20+ million illegal aliens currently in America. That’ll bring us down to 280 million and then we can have the 300+ million party once more.
2. Soy and lentils in different colors?
I’ll take an order of Soylent Orange with some grated Solyent blue and a side order of Soylent Green on a Soylent Red bun.
Hold the Soylent Chartreuse.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 10 16 at 02:56 PM • permalinkWould it help, Professor, if I killed myself?
No, but it would help immensely if Professor Myers publicly committed suicide to show his anger over there being 300 million Americans. Or immediately immigrated to some third world country so as to restore the balance. Zimbabwe comes to mind, for some odd reason.
Him being an American and all, it only makes sense that he should do something about it besides yakking.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 10 16 at 03:02 PM • permalink“But at 300 million, we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation”
I’m not sure I agree with the whole “quality-of-life degradation” argument. I admit that two more “densely packed” (i.e. people per square mile) countries have lower standards of living; China and India come immediately to mind. And I do know that even as things stand now, big cities continually battle myriad issues simply due to the concentration of large numbers of people within their boundaries. But going so far as to say “quality-of-life degradation”... that seems to me to be a bit too over the top. I think the reality is a bit more complex.
Take population density figures into account:
US - 31 people/sq km, highest: New Jersey, 438 people/sq km. Densest city: Guttenberg, New Jersey, 21,961 people/sq km
India - 329 people/sq km, representative city: Mumbai, 29,434 people/sq km, may not be densest city
China - 136.12 people/sq km, representative city: Macau, 16,521 people/sq km.)
On the one hand, China and India have higher population densities overall. On the other hand, their crowded cities and ours are comparable in people per square kilometer. Yet US standards of living are still higher even in those cities (unless there’s a study to the contrary that I’m unaware of). So the US is capable of having populations as dense as any other country’s in the world while maintaining the US standard-of-living levels.
But, the US is less dense overall. There’s expansion capacity left. Sure, some of it is unusable - who wants to live in the middle of the desert (No Las Vegas jokes!)? And, we can’t use up all the arable land; we still need to farm. But, my overall point is that the US shows it can handle the population densities we see in the most crowded cities in the world and still maintain a higher standard of living, while at the same time having some more expansion capacity left. So from this admittedly quick, off-the-top-of-my-head argument, I don’t see us being “crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation” because I don’t see that degradation happening yet.
Not that it’s impossible; I just don’t think the US is at that point yet. China is, due to their lack of viable living space (parts of the Tibetan plain and the Gobi desert are just not habitable). Their government has openly talked about their population issues for years. I don’t have enough information on India to tell if they can handle more people within their borders, so I’ll withold comment on that nation. But the US… in spite of the many and myriad population issues, I simply don’t think we’re at the breaking point yet.
Arguments to the contrary are welcome, however. I can always use more and better information that what I personally have.
Posted by ElMondoHummus on 2006 10 16 at 03:22 PM • permalinkFrom the CIA World Factbook:
Area:
total: 9,631,420 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 469,497 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of ColumbiaWell, Alaska’s pretty big, but let it ride - the population there is real low anyway.
But for the continental US, we see a population density of
300x10^6/9.1x10^6, or 32.96 people per sq. kmHardly crowded.
Hmmmm.
I say we:
A. develop fusion power
B. intersteller FTL flight
C. high efficiency gravity generators
D. breakup all of the solar system’s planets
E. and build us a Ringworld
F. make certain to kill off all the spotted owls so it’ll give the enviro-weenies something to bitch aboutBut hey, that’s just my opinion so YMMV.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 10 16 at 03:58 PM • permalinkUnbelievable. Modern humans are the healthiest, wealthiest, most literate and longest-lived in history.
Yet, we can be made to act as skittish as superstitious, moon-howling cave-dwellers—and they really had stuff to worry about.
What’s really behind this sort of sniping is that “professor(s) of urban planning and demography” and the rest of the academy of social ‘sciences’ daydreamers have done precious little to bring about this world.
So the only recourse for small-minded people who’ve been bested by others is to lint-pick and cat-scratch at what they could never accomplish themselves.
Dish of cream for the
pussycat?At 300 million we figure on being the crushers rather than the crushees. Go us!
Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2006 10 16 at 04:50 PM • permalinkI have come to the conclusion that the number of ecstatic demographers and statisticians in an enormous number.
I base that on the adage ” ignorance is bliss”.
Tim, sent a pic of my reason for living, my angel.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 16 at 05:11 PM • permalinkDespite all the caterwauling and clothes-rending and ashes-wallowing, I believe in technology. Whatever problems arise, we’ll fix them sooner or later, because we’re human beings with brains and opposable thumbs, and that’s what we do. At least, that’s what the practical, no-nonsense portion of us do. I can’t really speak for the whimpering, fetally curled segment that calls itself “The Left”.
Mark Steyns new book “America Alone"highlights what a detrimental strawman the “overpopulation” meme of the 60’s and 70’s was.
“Quality of life degradation”? Who is this guy kidding? FOr thoses of us willing to take even a modicum of responsibility for our own life, the quality of life here is pretty damn good! And for me a good quality of life means seeing the children in my life grow into men and women of character, delighting in beloved friendships, meaningful work, good stewardship of the blessings I have, and the freedom to openly worship my God. I’m sorry these ” chicken littles” are so incapable of seeing how blessed THEY are.
WTF is hand-wringing ambivalence? If you’re wringing your hands about something, it’s not too damn likely you’re ambivalent about it.
Now I will return to rending my clothing insouciantly about the population bomb, resource depletion, running out of food, global warming, global cooling, polar bear drowning, wealth disparity and any other crackpot lunatic worries the Professor has in store for me.
Posted by Crispytoast on 2006 10 16 at 05:40 PM • permalinkOK It has to be done. I’m shocked that the honor(our) falls to me.
Degredation-I blame George Bush.USC is my Grad School. Take it from me, this guy is still sweeping manure, only between 9 and 3 and Monday thru Friday.
A serious question. Why do you have to make a big deal out of this one way or the other? Seems pointless.
Hi, I’m Chuck Heston, for Kraft Soylent Green…”
Does the taste vary from person to person, DaveS?
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 10 16 at 06:28 PM • permalinkBarrie
Wasn’t woofing at vegemite. No offense mate. Still, I do like that increase in supply methodology. You could get by with that on humanitarian grounds or something. Heh! Only five more weeks till the invasion of the basbarians.
Fidens
That would be the “Logans Run” for college profs. An excellent idea. We should get Wron on tht right away, i.e. before the election.
Everyone is doing Soylent Green jokes, but no Logan’s Run references.
Oh, thats probably because Logan’s Run was rubbish.
Posted by attilathepun on 2006 10 16 at 08:45 PM • permalinkE. and build us a Ringworld
Rishathra all around!
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 10 16 at 10:26 PM • permalinkDrudge headline 300,000,001.
It is a link, that takes you here and counting.
Soon to be 300,000,000 Americans…umm rather 300,000,000 people in America, MOST of them, are Americans.Wish us luck, folks, we need all the help we can get.
I just read an article that by 2043, the US is projected to have a population of 400 million. And China is reproducing well below replacement rate at 1.7 children per woman. China has zero immigration. At some point, if present trends continue, the US will be bigger than China, population wise.
In Europe, deaths will start outnumbering births in 4 years.
Words fail me. Doom mongering boom.
I never realised that one of the biggest dramas Americans faced, are your over crowded sidewalks.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 17 at 04:29 AM • permalinkP.S. Notice the picture accompanying the video.
And the money quote; “complicating the issue, is that Americans are living longer than ever”. How dare you not die at an appropriate age.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 17 at 04:34 AM • permalinkIt’s all Wronwright’s fault. We had a team in from John Hopkins to check the Tardis’ log, and the horny little devil is responsible for at least 2,000,000 of those pregnancies last year alone.
And that’s just in Bird’s Landing, near Montezuma Slough, in the Central California Delta area.
The Lancet has peer reviewed and confirmed this statistic and will publish it next week.
MarkL
CanberraMy Soylent Green tastes funny. It was probably made from some clown.
Posted by Brian O'Connell on 2006 10 17 at 08:01 AM • permalinkDamn people such as these, these or these that use those machines, or these to view this.
Despite efforts to move, contain or kill these or these, this document and to this point in time, women and men of reason, have prevailed.
We are terribly sorry world, we keep trying to lessen our population via this, or these, even these. People still keep coming to live under this symbol and keep having these.
I don’t understand it myself. Maybe, just maybe the blame is with these souls and these brave souls that make sure this is always on the rise, regardless the enemy.
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Would it help, Professor, if I killed myself?