Honey, I Shrunk the Country

It might be time to call for emergency sex. And even that won’t be enough. For the first time ever, America could be about to shrink. The US population has always grown, even at historical moments when that growth seemed most unlikely. “According to our best estimates, the nation’s population expanded throughout the Civil War, despite the deaths of more than 700,000 Americans. It grew throughout the Spanish Flu1, both World Wars, and countless bloody entanglements with other countries. Even COVID, which killed more than a million Americans, didn’t reverse the trend. But Trump’s immigration crackdown may accomplish what no war, plague, or calamity has ever done.” So what will this trend reversal mean? We’re going to get older, we’re going to have less farm and construction workers, we’re going to attract less talent, we’re going to lose a key engine of growth that has kept the American economy on top for years. And don’t kid yourself. It’s not just about illegal immigration. The welcome mat has been replaced by a brand that is increasingly radioactive. “Trump … has gone far beyond restricting illegal entry. He has used the specter of undocumented immigration to build out a paramilitary force to carry out deportations of dubious legality; to frighten migrants who are here lawfully; to demolish our refugee programs; to constrict overall migration into the U.S. in the long run; to intimidate colleges that accept large numbers of foreign-born students; and to generally obliterate America’s privilege as the country where the world’s smartest people want to study, work, and live.” Derek Thompson with an interesting look at how getting smaller could be a really big deal. The US Population Could Shrink in 2025, For the First Time Ever.