Mark Steyn argues that it is foolish for the Obama administration to get into an argument about birth control when the demographic stats point to some serious problems ahead. He uses an administration-generated chart to make his point with regard to how a smaller population will ever pay off the debt the US is acquiring.
Will America be another Greece? In Greece, 100 grandparents have 42 grandchildren — i.e., an upside-down family tree. As I wrote in this space a few weeks ago, "If 100 geezers run up a bazillion dollars' worth of debt, is it likely that 42 youngsters will ever be able to pay it off?"
For America: Nevertheless, the Baby Boomers did not have enough children to maintain mid-20th century social programs. As a result, the children they did have will end their lives in a poorer, uglier, sicker, more divided and more violent society.
But what really caught my attention was his reference to Louis XVI's budget in France before the 1789 revolution. For purposes of comparison, by 1788 Louis XVI's government in France was spending a mere 60% of revenues on debt service, and we know how that worked out for His Majesty shortly thereafter. I am not sure where he got 60%, because I have seen higher figures than this one. The French government was so indebted it could not even develop an infrastructure to compete with England in the rising Industrial Revolution.
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