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[Kagus]

Unless he's referring to the individual steel poles in a border-length slat wall as "strategically placed barriers"? Who even knows at this point.

[Trekkin]

Something that a lot of news outlets seem to have missed thus far is his statement that he is no longer talking about a border-length wall.

He stated he was now asking for "strategically placed barriers". Did I mishear that? That's a HUGE crack in his plan.

I read that as him trying to conflate the Wall with the parts of border security Democrats have actually supported, in particular the construction of physical barriers to discourage people from crossing the border at remote locations that can't be easily surveilled and reached and/or are physically dangerous to traverse. The maintenance and some expansion of those barriers was already priced into the CBP's proposed budget for FY2019, and thus the original appropriations bills, along with the new drones and vehicles and so forth, which is where he gets the idea that there was bipartisan support for "walls" generally.

[Reelya]

In a macro sense, immigration (of any sort) is just lost in the general annual population growth.  In the micro sense, concentrated immigration has acute effects since the local population change is much higher than you'd get from birthrate/deathrate changes.

It's actually a bigger chunk that you'd think. US population growth is about 0.7% a year, or just over 2 million. Immigration is about a million a year. Population growth without immigration would be a mere 0.35%. However, average fertility is only 1.77 babies per woman. This is not actually that much more than Japan (some states such as Massachusetts are around 1.5, which is a Japan-tier lack of babies).

American natural-born generations are already shrinking, but the decline is hidden because there was a big increase in life expectancy after WWII. Wait for the baby boomers to die off and you'll start to really notice the decline. Immigration is needed right now not to "grow" the population but just to stabilize the size of future cohorts.

BTW You know those "why do Japanese young people not have sex" articles? Those are a red herring from the Japanese press because mainstream Japan doesn't want to discuss the real issue - lack of immigration, so they blame "young people with their cartoons and video games" for the lack of babies. It should be easy to see how dumb this argument is. Massachusetts is the same as Japan, but would you accept an article blaming Fortnite and Spongebob for the lack of baby-making in Massachusetts?

[Dunamisdeos]

Residents of Massachusetts are not a unique and insular ethnicity/culture, this is why it is not as big a deal. Also, urban centers suck for raising a family in comparison to more rural areas (opinion).

EDIT: Additionally, a fertility rate below 2 appears to be abnormal in America [when sorted by state].

[MrRoboto75]

The fertility rate in Japan is almost exactly the same as the state of Massachusetts, yet do we hand-wring about how young people with their Marvel movies and video games in Massachusetts is leading to a lack of babies?

We minge on millennials about a lot of things really.

[hector13]

The fertility rate in Japan is almost exactly the same as the state of Massachusetts, yet do we hand-wring about how young people with their Marvel movies and video games in Massachusetts is leading to a lack of babies?

We minge on millennials about a lot of things really.

You do what to millennials now?

[Dunamisdeos]

The fertility rate in Japan is almost exactly the same as the state of Massachusetts, yet do we hand-wring about how young people with their Marvel movies and video games in Massachusetts is leading to a lack of babies?

We minge on millennials about a lot of things really.

You do what to millennials now?

You done goofed.

Spoiler: That word has a very NSFW definition (click to show/hide)

Noun. 1. minge - vulgar term for a woman's pubic hair or genitals. crotch hair, pubic hair, bush - hair growing in the pubic area. female genital organ, female genitalia, female genitals, fanny - external female sex organs; "in England `fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals"

[Reelya]

Residents of Massachusetts are not a unique and insular ethnicity/culture, this is why it is not as big a deal. Also, urban centers suck for raising a family in comparison to more rural areas (opinion).

EDIT: Additionally, a fertility rate below 2 appears to be abnormal in America [when sorted by state].

But average is 1.77 when weighted by population size. Sure, some states exceed replacement level, but they tend to be lightly populated rural states.

[Dunamisdeos]

Residents of Massachusetts are not a unique and insular ethnicity/culture, this is why it is not as big a deal. Also, urban centers suck for raising a family in comparison to more rural areas (opinion).

EDIT: Additionally, a fertility rate below 2 appears to be abnormal in America [when sorted by state].

But average is 1.77 when weighted by population size. Sure, some states exceed replacement level, but they tend to be lightly populated rural states.

This is true.

Anyway large cities are not conducive to child rearing, as they generally require people to spend all their time making rent instead of having relationships. IMO, that is.

[Reelya]

BTW I think you looked at the left hand column, which is 10 years out of date. In 2017, only 6 states (plus Guam and Samoa) exceeded 2.0 babies. There's been a big drop since 2007, a full 0.5 per person.

[MrRoboto75]

The fertility rate in Japan is almost exactly the same as the state of Massachusetts, yet do we hand-wring about how young people with their Marvel movies and video games in Massachusetts is leading to a lack of babies?

We minge on millennials about a lot of things really.

You do what to millennials now?

You done goofed.

Spoiler: That word has a very NSFW definition (click to show/hide)

Noun. 1. minge - vulgar term for a woman's pubic hair or genitals. crotch hair, pubic hair, bush - hair growing in the pubic area. female genital organ, female genitalia, female genitals, fanny - external female sex organs; "in England `fanny' is vulgar slang for female genitals"

Millennials are killing the proofreading industry.  Details at 11.

[Lord Shonus]

Residents of Massachusetts are not a unique and insular ethnicity/culture, this is why it is not as big a deal. Also, urban centers suck for raising a family in comparison to more rural areas (opinion).

EDIT: Additionally, a fertility rate below 2 appears to be abnormal in America [when sorted by state].

For 2017 numbers, 6 states (out of 50) and two territories (out of 14) have a fertility rate above 2. This means that 44 states and 12 territories have a fertility rate below 2. These are all fairly lightly populated regions as well, further taking them into the minority.  You have to go back to 2010 to find a time when "state with fertility rate above 2" is not a minority.

[Starver]

And even a fertility rate of two is not enough¹ in this modern world of babies with three parents!


(¹ Yeah, I know this is already true. 'Snot the joke I'm making though,)

[Frumple]

Anyway large cities are not conducive to child rearing, as they generally require people to spend all their time making rent instead of having relationships. IMO, that is.

Ha. No, shit's poor as fuck out here outside the cities. Spending all your time making rent is as much or more (see folks that travel for work stints, spending weeks or months away from home at a time) of a thing as in cities, on top of there being less people to potentially help out and less shit to do. It's pretty much a wash so far as that particular subject goes, or even worse on average. Different problems, but generally no less of 'em.

[MrRoboto75]

Anyway large cities are not conducive to child rearing, as they generally require people to spend all their time making rent instead of having relationships. IMO, that is.

Ha. No, shit's poor as fuck out here outside the cities. Spending all your time making rent is as much or more (see folks that travel for work stints, spending weeks or months away from home at a time) of a thing as in cities, on top of there being less people to potentially help out and less shit to do. It's pretty much a wash so far as that particular subject goes, or even worse on average. Different problems, but generally no less of 'em.

Either way society wants you to raise GDP, not your kids.