re: Some interesting information

George Friedman, who founded STRATFOR, wrote in his book "The Next 100 Years" regarding America and it looked very promising. Yes, there will be bumps, but America has the best suspension in the world.

However in Chapter 3 Friedman contrasts the economic logic of pre-industrial families with the modern one. His exact framing (from his Carnegie Council lecture on the book) is:

"In agricultural society or early industrial society, having a child was profitable — you sent him to work at an early age; when you retired, he would take care of you. Today, if you talk about conspicuous consumption, nothing is more expensive than a child who remains a child into his mid-20s... In other words, having children is a luxury, not a necessity."

Friedman's argument is that large families were economically rational before industrialization because children were a labor asset and an old-age pension (the family was the safety net). Surely, 2 or 3 of the 12 children would become successful and able to help the family as they aged. But once industrialization, education, and the modern welfare state made children a long-term financial cost rather than an asset, the incentive for large families evaporated.

The welfare state is the implicit contrast: it replaced the family as the unit of economic security, removing the "retirement insurance" function that large families used to serve.

Even Friedman did not calculate open borders and welfare for illegal immigrants.

The 70s thru 80s was great!!

I'm assuming that's 25% of total welfare cases. They make up 56% of the total so they are well below that % in terms of the total pie.

I'd imagine blacks make up well over their 13% of the population number, though. Probably along the lines of the crime stats.