Re: population and inequality

On Sun, 18 Jun 2000, Andrew Wayne Austin wrote:
> they desire to reduce the number of those in the
> "underclass" because they are capitalism's embarrassment (hence the
> support and funding of chemical and surgical sterilization, public heath
> departments dispensing birth control, family caps, etc., all designed to
> reduce the numbers of poor people).


Capitalists desire to reduce the number of the underclass because they're
embarassed?  Right.  Impeccable logic.

Didn't you see the story last fall in the NYT happily explaining how an
influx of women and immigrants to the U.S. labor force had saved us from a
wage/inflation spiral?

Contrary to the fears of "population control," it seems clear to me that
the capitalists understand quite well how they benefit from a surplus
population that maintains a slack labor market and low wages.

Progressives' knee-jerk ideological reaction against limiting population
growth does not have progressive consequences.  

[Throwing around terms like "Malthusian," "social darwinism," and so on,
merely provokes emotion and obscure the issues.]

RH