Bryan Fischer
Abortion and the American economy
By Bryan Fischer
Historically, there has always a certain amount of tension between social conservatives and fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party specifically and in the conservative movement generally.
But as David Ripley pointed out in a talk he delivered last Friday night to the Treasure Valley Pachyderm Club, our views on morality, especially when it comes to abortion, have a profound impact on the economic health of the United States.
Ripley's point is simple, that conservatism must be about more than money.
Legalized abortion, he is quick to point out, is morally wrong, and moral issues trump fiscal ones every time.
But legalized abortion is also "terrible economics." A free market economy is utterly dependent upon the family for the human capital needed to make it work. Simply put, "No people, no economic growth; no workers, no wealth." By killing human beings before they are even born, Ripley argues, we are "literally killing wealth."
But not only are there fewer workers, because of abortion, the general moral breakdown of our culture has affected the quality of the workforce since it has left many of our workers and managers "emotionally scarred, wounded and confused."
Ripley cites a 2004 paper by Louis Johnson of St. John's University which tracks the growth of the American workforce between 1800 and 1930, and the impact of a rapidly growing population on the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Johnson's conclusion is that rapid growth over this period correlated to a 450% per capita increase in GDP. Each new worker did not just carry his own weight, but added to the burgeoning wealth of the growing nation.
The loss of 50 million workers to abortion since 1973 has deprived us of their talents and contributions and left us economically weaker. Our economy is smaller, meaning tax revenues available to government are smaller. Given the voracious appetite of government at all levels, this forces the rest of us to carry a heavier load in our packs.
A 2007 study done by a Professor Richard Grant highlighted another consequence of abortion-on-demand: a dangerous tilting of population toward the aging, leaving fewer and fewer younger workers to support older and retired ones. Australia currently has five workers for every retiree; but by 2042, that ratio will drop in half. Yet Australia's cost of caring for the aging is expected to skyrocket by 1300% over the next forty years. Who will be around to pay for their care?
All told, 83 countries are suffering birth rates that are low enough that their populations are expected to be in decline by 2050. (Russia's population is dropping by a precipitous 750,000 a year already.)
America's Social Security system and Medicare system will soon be completely bankrupt, just as an entire generation of Baby Boomers enters retirement. This inevitably will lead to a call for rationed care and the legalizing of euthanasia as senior citizens are pressed to exercise what a former Colorado governor called their "duty to die." Already in England, under socialized medicine and its inevitable rationing of health care, the elderly are being denied available treatment simply because of their age.
A professor Edward Strohbehn recently published a paper which profiled the shrinkage of the 40-59 age group in America, the most productive segment of our economy. This is the strata from which our professionals, managers and entrepreneurs are drawn.
The first victims of Roe would have turned 36 this year, and so we are just four years away from beginning to experience the devastating impact of the loss of one-third of our potential workers since 1973.
The 40-59 year-old segment of the population will actually becoming smaller as we move forward, shrinking by about 300,000 between 2013 and 2024, a shrinkage unprecedented in American history.
It is inevitable, says Strohbehn, that this shrinkage will lead to a drop in our GDP, institutionalized stagnation, double-digit unemployment rates, and excess deficit spending on the part of government to compensate, which in turn will lead to inflation and a weakened currency.
A look at today's headlines and the gargantuan debt-driven spending plan being implemented by our new president may indicate that we are much closer to realizing the dark edges of Strohbehn's prophetic word than even he would have guessed.
The bottom line is that not only our moral future as a nation but our economic future is tied to the horror of abortion. No nation can kill a third of its own population and expect to thrive.
Says Ripley, "Unless we come to grips with this self-destructive philosophy, the price will only become greater, until the American 'birthright of prosperity'" will be just a distant memory.
Demographics is destiny, as he points out. We are long past the time where we can afford to believe that economic prosperity is possible without a moral foundation rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition and its culture of life, and we are long past the time where we can afford to elect even one more pro-abortion politician.
Pro-abortion politicians are killing our youngest Americans in the womb, killing the American dream, and bleeding America to death in the process. It's time for the killing to stop.
To read the full text of Ripley's remarks:
David Ripley: Why conservatism is more than money
© Bryan Fischer
March 4, 2009
Historically, there has always a certain amount of tension between social conservatives and fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party specifically and in the conservative movement generally.
But as David Ripley pointed out in a talk he delivered last Friday night to the Treasure Valley Pachyderm Club, our views on morality, especially when it comes to abortion, have a profound impact on the economic health of the United States.
Ripley's point is simple, that conservatism must be about more than money.
Legalized abortion, he is quick to point out, is morally wrong, and moral issues trump fiscal ones every time.
But legalized abortion is also "terrible economics." A free market economy is utterly dependent upon the family for the human capital needed to make it work. Simply put, "No people, no economic growth; no workers, no wealth." By killing human beings before they are even born, Ripley argues, we are "literally killing wealth."
But not only are there fewer workers, because of abortion, the general moral breakdown of our culture has affected the quality of the workforce since it has left many of our workers and managers "emotionally scarred, wounded and confused."
Ripley cites a 2004 paper by Louis Johnson of St. John's University which tracks the growth of the American workforce between 1800 and 1930, and the impact of a rapidly growing population on the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Johnson's conclusion is that rapid growth over this period correlated to a 450% per capita increase in GDP. Each new worker did not just carry his own weight, but added to the burgeoning wealth of the growing nation.
The loss of 50 million workers to abortion since 1973 has deprived us of their talents and contributions and left us economically weaker. Our economy is smaller, meaning tax revenues available to government are smaller. Given the voracious appetite of government at all levels, this forces the rest of us to carry a heavier load in our packs.
A 2007 study done by a Professor Richard Grant highlighted another consequence of abortion-on-demand: a dangerous tilting of population toward the aging, leaving fewer and fewer younger workers to support older and retired ones. Australia currently has five workers for every retiree; but by 2042, that ratio will drop in half. Yet Australia's cost of caring for the aging is expected to skyrocket by 1300% over the next forty years. Who will be around to pay for their care?
All told, 83 countries are suffering birth rates that are low enough that their populations are expected to be in decline by 2050. (Russia's population is dropping by a precipitous 750,000 a year already.)
America's Social Security system and Medicare system will soon be completely bankrupt, just as an entire generation of Baby Boomers enters retirement. This inevitably will lead to a call for rationed care and the legalizing of euthanasia as senior citizens are pressed to exercise what a former Colorado governor called their "duty to die." Already in England, under socialized medicine and its inevitable rationing of health care, the elderly are being denied available treatment simply because of their age.
A professor Edward Strohbehn recently published a paper which profiled the shrinkage of the 40-59 age group in America, the most productive segment of our economy. This is the strata from which our professionals, managers and entrepreneurs are drawn.
The first victims of Roe would have turned 36 this year, and so we are just four years away from beginning to experience the devastating impact of the loss of one-third of our potential workers since 1973.
The 40-59 year-old segment of the population will actually becoming smaller as we move forward, shrinking by about 300,000 between 2013 and 2024, a shrinkage unprecedented in American history.
It is inevitable, says Strohbehn, that this shrinkage will lead to a drop in our GDP, institutionalized stagnation, double-digit unemployment rates, and excess deficit spending on the part of government to compensate, which in turn will lead to inflation and a weakened currency.
A look at today's headlines and the gargantuan debt-driven spending plan being implemented by our new president may indicate that we are much closer to realizing the dark edges of Strohbehn's prophetic word than even he would have guessed.
The bottom line is that not only our moral future as a nation but our economic future is tied to the horror of abortion. No nation can kill a third of its own population and expect to thrive.
Says Ripley, "Unless we come to grips with this self-destructive philosophy, the price will only become greater, until the American 'birthright of prosperity'" will be just a distant memory.
Demographics is destiny, as he points out. We are long past the time where we can afford to believe that economic prosperity is possible without a moral foundation rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition and its culture of life, and we are long past the time where we can afford to elect even one more pro-abortion politician.
Pro-abortion politicians are killing our youngest Americans in the womb, killing the American dream, and bleeding America to death in the process. It's time for the killing to stop.
To read the full text of Ripley's remarks:
David Ripley: Why conservatism is more than money
© Bryan Fischer
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