A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the birth rate in America hit an all time low in 2011. This statistic shows Americans have little confidence in the future in terms of the economy and security.
“The 2011 preliminary number of U.S. births was 3,953,593, 1 percent less (or 45,793 fewer) births than in 2010; the general fertility rate (63.3 per 1,000 women age 15-44 years) declined to the lowest rate ever reported for the United States,” stated the report.
There were 3.96 million births in 2011, which is only 1.3% growth rate. In 1909 the growth rate was 3%.
Children are expensive. A lot of people say they will wait to have children until they can afford it, but if they truly waited until then they wouldn’t have kids. With America’s terrible economy it’s no wonder people aren’t having children. The future is looking bleak.
It doesn’t help that the government is adding more programs to it’s already bankrupt self. How will we pay for this if there aren’t more people to take money away from? Socialism is a Catch-22 ideology. In order to support the ideology you need more people to suck money out of, but then again you need fewer people so you don’t have to spend so much money.
If this pattern continues, Social Security and Medicare will be empty sooner rather than later. In July, Money News said that “the trust fund for Disability insurance will be exhausted by 2016, the trust fund for Medicare by 2024, and the trust fund for Social Security by 2033.” In order to make Social Security work after 2033 a 5% increase in payroll tax will have to happen. It’s currently at 15.3%. If our birth rates continue to fall these programs and others will be completely bankrupt even sooner.
The birth rate could also have something to do with security. Take a look at Israel. In 2000 they started building the West Bank barrier. Between September 2000 and July 2003 terrorists carried out 73 attacks. 293 Israelis were killed, 1950 wounded. In the 11 months after the barrier only three attacks were successful and they happened in the beginning of 2003.
After all of this, Israel’s birth rate sky rocketed. In 2011 the Israel birth rate increased by 20% since 2001. Let that sink in. Since the building of the barrier, which resulted in fewer attacks, giving Jewish Israelis a better sense of security, their birth rate rose 20%. In 2000 there were 91,936 Jewish births. In 2011 there were 121,617 Jewish births.
Some may view the low U.S. birth rate as just a blip on the radar, but it could cause major problems down the road. It is a vote of no confidence.
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