It’s the Liberals, Stupid

Whether unmasking crypto-Muslim conspiracies, revealing the secret source of Hitler’s power, or scrutinizing the president’s past for signs of fraud, the tireless fantasists at Joseph Farah’s far-right WorldNetDaily always have the news behind the news.

So what’s the latest?

This: Because white people are not having enough babies, America is in for 20 years of economic stagnation. So says WND columnist Michael Master in a Sept. 29 “exclusive.”

Master, an amateur economist who is buddies with James David Manning, the Harlem preacher who in a highly theatrical trial last year “convicted” Obama of fraud, says, “If the U.S. truly wants to fix the root causes to [sic] the economy, then it needs to take a hard look into the causes of the low birthrates to Caucasians.”

“Let’s start with these,” he continues. “Feminists. Gays. Teachers. Entertainers. Men who feel no responsibilities. Abortion on demand. Secularists. Environmentalists. Courts/lawyers/the ACLU. The New World Order.

“And what do these all have in common? They all promote the liberal philosophy.”

In other words, It’s the liberals, stupid.

Master’s fear-mongering is based in part on half-truths about demographic shifts.

America is aging: According to a U.S. Census Bureau report issued last May, the number of Americans 65 and older will more than double between 2010 and 2050, from 40.2 to 80.5 million. And it’s true that mainstream economists have for some time suggested that under certain circumstances, economic recovery could be hindered as spending and consumption habits change to reflect the graying population’s needs.

Piggybacking on these facts, Master – who uses the term “Caucasian” interchangeably with the word “people,” (as in, “the decrease in America right now was caused by the low birthrates to Caucasians from 1970 to 1985 – and the number of people … does not improve until 2022”) admonishes whites to “[l]ook at the Hispanic and black populations in the U.S. today. … They love(d) children. This current Caucasian generation in the U.S. and Western Europe does not.”

Unless whites abandon their hedonistic, immoral distaste for children, he says, America is in for years of economic stagnation.

It’s true that the fertility rate has declined both in the U.S. and worldwide. Under certain circumstances, economists say, that could lead to stagnation. It’s already happening in Japan, where a rapidly aging population and a decline in the fertility rate mean that each working-age person has to support an increasing number of dependent elderly retirees.

But there is a broad consensus among experts (here and here and here, for instance) that Japan – which has one of the world’s most restrictive immigration policies – could mitigate the effects of aging by opening its doors to newcomers. Unfortunately, influential conservatives there revile the idea of welcoming foreigners, suggesting instead that Japanese families should have more children.

Sound familiar?

The thing about that “solution,” economists say, is that it would actually intensify the demographic/economic problem. Women who have more children tend to work less, thus increasing the number of dependents supported by the already overburdened working population.

Fortunately, the U.S. has a better alternative already in the works. According to the Census Bureau report, “projected immigration into the working age groups tends to mitigate the impact. ... The country’s aging is slowed somewhat by immigration of younger people.” In the next four decades, the report says, the overall population – especially among younger people – will become more racially diverse, with the population of minorities surpassing that of non-Hispanic whites by 2042.

Clearly, this is what has Master’s tinsel in a tangle. His WND article is explicitly based on the idea that America risks going down the same road to stagnation as Japan – and for the same reason. And instead of looking to the already-existing solution (as predicted in the Census Bureau report), he offers an alternative that has, as demonstrated by Japan, a proven track record of not working.

Master says he’s worried about the economy, but what really frightens him, it seems, is change. The only solution to the “problem” as he sees it is a time machine.