opinion | Dobbs and the Economy

The basic administration logic is that if people have a higher ability to terminate unwanted pregnancies, then labor force participation will be higher. Given all of Biden’s policies related to the pandemic, which have discouraged labor-force participation, one can question the depth of the White House’s concern over the issue. But the administration’s logic is plausible for the immediate future. It is also very short-sighted.

If one were to list the biggest economic challenges facing the United States, surely one of the top items would be the massively indebted federal government, which has more than $30 trillion of approved debt – and several trillion more. Unrestricted retirement eligibility promises – backed by a country that is creating fewer future workers.

Last year the disappointing US trend showed only a slight improvement. The Journal’s Janet Adamy and Anthony DeBaros informed of In May:

Births are still at historically low levels, peaking in 2007 and then declining during the recession that began at the end of that year. The total fertility rate – a snapshot of the average number of children a woman will have over her lifetime – was 1.66 the previous year, up from 1.64 the previous year, when the government began tracking it in the 1930s.

“This slight blip up still leaves us on a long-term trajectory toward low birthweight,” said Philip Levine, professor of economics at Wellesley College.

For about 15 years the annual US total fertility rate has been below the 2.1 average that is considered necessary for generations to replace themselves. Without reform or a more sensible policy for expanded legalized immigration, the US economy simply will not struggle. Eventually it may cease to exist.

The late great economist Julian Simon called man the ultimate natural resource. Worldwide, the positive correlation between population growth and increasing prosperity may not receive much media attention, but the global historical trend is well established. Marion Tupi in 2018 wrote For Cato Institute:

Many believe that global population growth leads to more poverty and more famine, but evidence suggests otherwise. The world population grew by 145 percent between 1960 and 2016. Over the same period, the real average annual per capita income in the world increased by 183 percent.

Instead of an increase in the poverty rate, the world saw the greatest reduction in poverty in human history.

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shutdown disaster was worldwide

The Economist still insists that school closures were initially “a prudent precaution” to address Covid, but credit the magazine for accepting a destructive reaction To covid:

More than 80% of schools in Latin America and South Asia were disrupted by some form of closure during the first two years of the pandemic. Even today schools in some countries, such as the Philippines, remain closed to most students, leaving their brains to atrophy.

Globally, the harm caused to children by school closures far outweighs any benefit to public health… ten-year-olds in middle- and low-income countries, says the World Bank The share of those who can’t read and understand a simple story has increased from 57% in 2019 to almost 70%. If they lack such elementary skills, they will struggle to make a decent living. The bank estimates that $21trn will be wiped out of their lifetime earnings – the equivalent of about 20% of the world’s annual GDP today.

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Mississippi’s lifeguard

Natalie Nessa Alund reports In USA Today:

City officials in Mississippi, who is being hailed as a hero, said he saved three people and a police officer after a vehicle went overboard over the holiday weekend.

The Moss Point Police Department said in a news release that Corian Evans, 16, came to the aid of three female victims when she saw an Interstate 10 boat launching into the Pascagoula River.

Michael Goldberg reports For the Associated Press:

Distracted by the black water, Evans went straight to the river. Later, he learned, crocodiles live in the river and its creek.

“I was scared, but I focused on keeping everyone calm,” he said…

Moss Point police officer Gary Mercer was dispatched to the scene and said Evans was already in the water when he arrived. Mercer said he jumped into the river and began assisting one of the teens who said she couldn’t swim. When Mercer tried to carry the girl on his back, she panicked and forced her to go underwater.

“He was trying to come back up, but kept swallowing the water,” Evans said. “He was trying to catch his breath but he tells her, ‘I can’t, I can’t.’ Then I swam to him.”

Evans then helped Mercer and the woman reach the shore. He credits his physical strength to his experience playing high school football and swimming. He said he learned to swim as a 3-year-old in his grandmother’s pool…

The young women give Evans a gift basket with bags of “Life Savers” candy.

Evans, who will be a senior at Pascagoula High School in the fall, wants to study physical therapy or sports medicine in college. a gofundme page It was started to help pay his tuition, which he is calling a “blessing”.

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One way to respond to high gas prices
Always at the forefront of progressive policy innovations, local officials in California are leading a movement to push drivers out of gasoline-powered cars.

grace to reports In the Los Angeles Times:

Without realizing that they were starting a movement in green energy policy, leaders in a small Sonoma Valley town have done the same when they questioned the approval process for a new gas station – ultimately its development and that of others in the future. stopped.

“We didn’t really know what we were doing,” said Petaluma councilwoman D’Linda Fischer, who led the charge last year to restrict new gas stations in the city of 60,000. “We didn’t know we were the first in the world to ban gas stations.”

In fact, the idea that they didn’t know what they were doing is widely shared. But has it ever stopped a costly climate policy from gaining popularity among Golden State politicians? Ms Twohey noted that the regulatory attack on the most popular form of motor vehicle transport is gaining momentum:

Since Petaluma’s decision, four other Bay Area cities have followed suit, and now, leaders of California’s most car-focused metropolis are hoping to bring climate-conscious policy to Southern California.

It opens a new frontier in California’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and is already generating opposition from the fuel industry, which it argues will harm consumers.

They certainly will, and many of them may simply drive out of state and never return. If they go as far as Mississippi, drivers can find low prices and some of the most helpful neighbors in the world.

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James Freeman is co-authored “The Cost: Trump, China and the American Revival.”

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