Birth Rate & Immigration

This past week was full of news about things like pulling troops out of Iraq and the killing of a tyrant in Libya. I think that these are good things for our country. The most important news for your retirement benefits that was not reported related to Birth Rate.

A weekly recap from Vanguard is the opening paragraph. The last section are quotes from one of my favorite historical figures Robert E. Lee known as the General for the Confederate Army in the Civil War, past President of Washington & Lee University, and owner of the land that is now the Arlington National Cemetery.

Vanguard,

The economy is stirring more than it was a few weeks ago, but there's still worry the long slumber will continue. Economic reports were mixed this week. Both the Beige Book and a set of leading economic indicators showed slow growth. Industrial production crawled forward. A sizeable gain in new residential construction was muted by a decline in existing-home sales. Consumer and wholesale prices rose, but inflation still appears tame. For the week ended October 21, the S&P 500 Index rose 1.1% to 1,238 (for a year-to-date total return—including price change plus dividends—of about 0.1%). The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 3 basis points to 2.23% (for a year-to-date decrease of 107 basis points).

Birth Rate and Immigration

The future solvency of Social Security and Medicare is dependent upon having people contribute to it on an ongoing basis. The statistic this week on the United States Birth Rate shows that since 2007 the number of babies being born has been declining. Even as the economy has been recovering, this birth rate continues to decline.

We need an expanding economy creating more jobs and American citizens filling them. We need to have people paying FICA and Medicare taxes. The issue of immigration is of paramount importance as well. If we do not have enough babies then we need to have legal immigration to have an ample supply of workers. What really makes me mad is a business person that hires illegal aliens to get around paying FICA and Social Security taxes and then complains about the future solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

Robert E. Lee Quotes

"Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.”

“Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.”

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.”

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”

“I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”

“Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret.”

“We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.”

“I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”

“Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.”

“I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing, than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity.”