QOTD: Quote of the Day
South Korea faces an existential crisis with a plunging birth rate. The country has the lowest fertility rate in the world, reaching the “dead cross,” when deaths outnumbered births, in 2020, a decade earlier than expected. South Korea’s statistics agency put the fertility rate at 0.81 for 2021; by the third quarter of 2022 it was 0.79. The country’s patriarchal society and misogyny deserves much blame. See here.
The birth strike is women’s revenge on a society that puts impossible burdens on us and doesn’t respect us. – Jiny Kim, NYTimes
Global Macro Monitor 
Since Global Warming/Climate Change is primarily a function of industrial world population, seems like South Korea is on a track that others should take heed of and follow. Everyone is hoping technology will save the day. But one rather obvious solution is an orderly transition to fewer people on planet earth—consuming far fewer of its finite resources. Markets of course would shudder at the thought; a more or less permanent economic slowdown, that would last, well for all intents and purposes forever. In which case distant future generations would praise not curse us.
Let’s say all the world nations agreed upon and were somehow miraculously able to slow population expansion of say 0.5 over then next ten years; tragedy narrowly averted. True such would portend a major economic disruptor—no doubt featuring market winners and losers. To put the brakes on the planet’s population growth, and economic activity to accomplish an equilibrium with the health of its climate—the latter lets not forget a necessity to sustaining life on earth. But wasn’t this very the idea hatched in the 1970’s USA? Two children families? Yes it was. Du-hee.
Global population is 1970 = 3,700,437,046
Global population 9/2022 = 7,992,312,800
https://www.census.gov/popclock/world