tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post7761924512772226170..comments2023-10-28T00:47:18.069-07:00Comments on Weeks Population: Family as a Source of Inequality--Drifters vs. PlannersJohn Weekshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04069566137451684355noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-48941643510244578052014-10-07T21:48:05.122-07:002014-10-07T21:48:05.122-07:00You overcame the odds, to be sure, but the odds we...You overcame the odds, to be sure, but the odds were stacked against you in comparison to a child growing up in a two-parent university-educated family. And, some of the children from such families will be living under a freeway overpass, but the probability of that is low. These are probabilities, not certainties.John Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04069566137451684355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-37247181701596510152014-10-07T17:57:47.171-07:002014-10-07T17:57:47.171-07:00Ohhh ... and in reference to the actual article. ...Ohhh ... and in reference to the actual article. Nah, not buying it. I was a kid raised by a solo Mum, and our family was well down the economic scale. I worked my butt off, got into college and came to the USA. It can be done! The USA still provides move economic OPPORTUNITY than most other places on Earth. People can make it if they want to. Just my thoughts :-) Pete, USA Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-74955515060727633512014-10-07T14:37:52.902-07:002014-10-07T14:37:52.902-07:00and update to last remark. looks like the total #...and update to last remark. looks like the total # of ebola cases is probably in the low tens-of-thousands right now, and not hundreds-of-thousands. so perhaps this is onl a "blip" on the local demographics of W. Africa. <br /><br />Pete, USAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-68159579853906930672014-10-07T10:54:15.875-07:002014-10-07T10:54:15.875-07:00sorry to change the subject entirely. but this is...sorry to change the subject entirely. but this is worthy of a future article. it appears that the "ebola crisis" is more out-of-control than the authorities would like us to believe. it is now spreading into Ghana. Personally, I doubt that they can contain it in any part of West Africa, and very likely much of Central Africa is also at risk. There is a danger that this outbreak could "go global", especially if an infected traveler reaches the slums in any major world city (Karachi, Rio, Calcutta, etc.). It's too early to tell the outcome. But do the MATH. This version of ebola has a 60% mortality. If several hundred thoudans people are infected in West Africa, what is the total mortality?? This is not trivial. best wishes, Pete, Redondo Beach. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-72673054762239446622014-10-06T22:09:40.358-07:002014-10-06T22:09:40.358-07:00Yours is the classic Malthusian position, and it&#...Yours is the classic Malthusian position, and it's not that I disagree with it. Rather, just as Malthus's friends told him two hundred years ago--that's not how the world works. If people protect themselves from unintended pregnancies, then the result is the same as not engaging in premarital sex, without the frustration that occurs when young people with raging hormones get around each other. And, of course, this is also a way to get rid of the need for abortion. Avoiding sex is one way to avoid pregnancy, but contraception is a more realistic way to do it.John Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04069566137451684355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2532313388110978122.post-83225123972285792332014-10-06T21:43:24.875-07:002014-10-06T21:43:24.875-07:00I know you will disagree with me on this, but I wo...I know you will disagree with me on this, but I would like to suggest that the main problem is that men no longer need to get married to have sex (a by product of the feminist and sexual 'revolutions'). For more educated people there is an awareness that there are other benefits to monogamous marriage (in addition to sex), and as such still engage in the practice. But that source of power that women had over men is now compromised, and so one of the most primordial allurements to marriage is gone. The answer is not better birth control, in my opinion, but encouraging young men and women to not engage in pre-marital sex. I realize that this mission is Quixotic, but birth-control/abortion regimes seems to lead to ultra-low fertility populations that, in the long runs, will unnaturally deselect themselves from existence. <br /><br />In any case, thanks for a link to this article. This is an important topic and worthy of our attention.Abu Daoudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18399746942963002389noreply@blogger.com