Sunday, April 19, 2015

Falling birth rate, good for humans, bad for capitalism

Zero Hedge: "Japan's population continues to fall (4th year in a row) but what is worse, there are now 33 million people over the age of 65 (a record 26%), more than double the number under the age of 14 (16.2 million). The ministry says the population will likely continue declining for some time as fewer babies are born and society ages."
The tone of this article from Zero Hedge is unmistakable. Falling birth rate is causing panic for capitalism. As people urbanize, they see less need for more farm hands, and focus on having fewer and better-educated children. A way to speed up this process would be to make cities car-free.