Africa (was ...10 trillion people in this solar system?)

Hi Mike,

> > Corruption does not explain everything.
>
> No, but it does explain a great deal. And it get worse. Another
>common
> cause of hunger in Africa is tribal warfare.

Many countries have corruption (Think in Italy, Japan and Mexico!)
and does not mean they have hunger. And also, many countries have
had wars and they did not trigger mass hunger either.

>If one side is in a
> position to control the food supply, then intentionally-engineered
> famines can become a favored method of eliminating the other side.
>

That does not explain it at all. Hunger and social problems are
widespread in Africa. Even in those countries that are not in war.

> Another significant factor is Socialist mismanagement of the
>economy in
> general, and agriculture in particular. We see this particularly
>under
> Mugabe. That's nothing specific to African culture; people are
>starving
> in North Korea as well.

That may be. But look at China. A communist country, at least in
theory.

> If population growth was the primary cause of poverty,
>

Yes it is. I am not talking about population SIZE but population
Growth. Every time it grows the per capita income declines. It is
just impossible to overcome poverty without having fast development
and slowing down population growth at once. Otherwise all the
efforts are in vain.

>then we might
> expect places like Singapore and India to be well on down the
>decline
> into worsened poverty.

Singapore does not have a population growth crisis at all.
India has some spots of prosperity, but most of the population lives
in very bad conditions still today. If Indian starts to develop
strongly it will be because it stopped its growth.

>Instead we see the opposite.
>

Just getting more people does not improve anything. More people has
to be matched with economical development. Otherwise is a disaster.

> This is the zero-sum view of economics. There's lots of contrary
> evidence against that view.
>

Well. That's theory. I have seen the practical side of it at work in
Latin America.

> > If Africa stop population growth the economy will improves fast.
> >
> You have without a doubt correctly observed a correlation, but be
>open
> that there might be a slight confusion between cause and effect.
>It could be that Africa's poverty is directly responsible for its
> rapid population growth.

Actually, is the old "egg and the chicken" problem. Poverty -> pop.
growth -> poverty -> pop. growth, etc.

Now. To break that vicious circle you have to improve economics and
stop population growth at the same time. If you try with just the
economic side of it all the effort will be wasted in one generation.

>And that increased wealth in the developed world is
> directly responsible for their declining growth rates.
>

No. That's not the cause. The problem was that people in the
developed world don't want to expend time or money in kids. People
in the developing world is just concern about having fun. That's
all.

For mankind is not a big deal, though. If a group of people don't
want to have descendency, other group will replace it sooner or
later. Which group will be? Perhaps the Chineses. Perhaps the
Indians. Perhaps the Muslims. or the Africans. But somebody else
will take the control and mankind will continue like if anything has
happened.

Regards,

Omar Vega