Select Page

COVID-19 Proves Malthus Theory on Checks on Population

COVID-19 Proves Malthus Theory on Checks on Population

In his 1798 essay on the principles of population, British economist Thomas Malthus argued that a given population, left unchecked, will outgrow its resources.

Disease and famine are natural checks to overpopulation, wrote Malthus, but a population can avoid catastrophe by utilizing birth control (delaying marriage, per Malthus…) and avoiding helping the poor.

While Malthus’s uncompromising views were unpopular (to say the least), we can see proof of them today with the coronavirus. COVID-19 started in China, which for years has struggled to curb population growth. From Malthus’s perspective, the coronavirus is a natural solution to the problem.

I know this sounds a bit dystopian, but take a look at some recent headlines:

    • Coronavirus death toll passes 4,000 worldwide (CNN)
    • New York creates ‘containment area’ around cluster in New Rochelle (NPR)
    • Italy announces 168 dead in last 24 hours (ABC)
    • Iran records highest single toll from coronavirus (Aljazeera)
    • CDC: Older folks should stock up on food, stay home amid coronavirus (BI)

Weeks ago, the CDC warned residents in the US to prepare for ‘major changes’ to everyday life. Governors of major states are declaring states of emergency to prepare for an expected outbreak. At least three countries, including the US, have slashed interest rates to convince consumers to keep spending money.

According to live updates, there have been roughly 118,347 cases of COVID-19 and 4,267 deaths. Actual totals are likely far higher due to underreporting in China and a lack of testing in the US.

On Tuesday, Walmart implemented an emergency employee leave program after an associate in Kentucky tested positive for the coronavirus.

As Malthus noted in his essay, those most at risk during a catastrophe are individuals in the lowest tiers of society. In this case,  authorities are concerned about prison populations. 

Iran decided to release more than 50,000 inmates from its prisons after the coronavirus swept through several facilities in China. The United States, which has more prisoners per capita than any other country, has not announced any major moves to protect this vulnerable population. 

The US holds nearly 2.3 million individuals in its thousands of prisons, up to half of which are over-crowded.

In over-crowded facilities, inmates often lack access to soap and are unable to shower for weeks at a time. Hand sanitizer is banned because it contains alcohol.

“Everyone walks to the cafeteria together, walks back through the same hallway, touches the same doorknobs, uses the same showers,” says Dr. Josiah Rich, a professor of medicine who works in the Rhode Island correctional system. “It was pretty clear, as this thing started evolving, that there is person-to-person transmission. It’s also pretty clear that it can spread easily.”

“On top of that, you have all sorts of people who are medically compromised,” adds David Patton, executive director for the nonprofit group Federal Defenders of New York. “There are a number of people with hepatitis, people with a broad spectrum of medical issues that are not dealt with well even in the best of times. And you have older inmates, you have people who are in high-risk categories and who are kept in thoroughly unsanitary conditions.”

And it’s not just the inmates at risk. Think about all the guards, doctors, and other staff that rotate in and out of the community.

“Correctional settings around the nation are often run with tolerance for abuse and neglect of incarcerated people,” writes Dr. Homer Venters, president of Community Orientated Correctional Health Services. “The only path to effective management of COVID-19 in these settings is meaningful partnership that starts now, when plans are being designed, not two months from now when cases are being detected.”

Editor’s Note: Malthus was correct in this theory, however it appears that once you attain a certain level of prosperity, population no longer grows so desperately. This is true throughout the first world, where population growth is low or, in the case of Japan, negative.

There are many theories as to why this is true. Perhaps it is because in the first world children have to be more educated and it is more expensive. Perhaps it is because we are able to effectively use birth control. And of course, we no longer need to depend on our children as our retirement plan, since reliable savings methods and social security allow older people to live independently of their children.

I anticipate that China, still a third world nation, will have tremendous difficulty fighting disease, which its population in such close quarters. The U.S. should have less of a problem since we are spread out more and our health facilities are first rate.

About The Author

15 Comments

  1. Bruce Cain

    A few thoughts about the Coronavirus and the Globalist Agenda.

    For decades it has been obvious to me that the current US economy is unsustainable. I recall the following general statistic.

    It takes twice as many working hours, on average, to buy a house/car than in the 1970’s.

    This hits home because I bought a TransAm in 1978 for $6300. Today the same type of car could easily cost ten times as much. Basically incomes are not keeping up with expenses and technology is expected to eliminate 50% of all remaining jobs in the next 20 years. So we have some serious problems which are largely being ignored by Corporate Media.

    Whether you are a military power or a globall corporation situational awareness is crucial. What I’m saying is situational awareness — knowing what has happened and what is coming — is just as important to an informed and effective electorate. You and I.

    As George Carlin once said. “There’s a reason they call it the American Dream. Because you have to be asleep to believe it.” Corporate Media never provides any useful metrics for a reason. They don’t want us to understand how badly we are getting screwed. Providing such a set of metrics is something Open Source Journalists (OSJ’s) need to focus on.

    We really do need a bailout of sorts for the American People: a Jubilee. And let’s face it the game is rigged for the rich which is illustrated by the vast polarization in wealth over the last 50 years. So on the left they want to bail out student debt which would be unfair on so many levels but primarily because everyone has their economic crosses to bare. For example 50% of bankruptcies are for medical debt. So yes we need a bailout that is fair to all Legal American Citizens. When Italy suspends mortgage payments, during the “virus shutdown” it begs the question. What about renters. It just underlines how perplexing a fair bailout would be to spell out legislatively. Again OSJ’s need to start thinking about what a “Fair Jubilee” should look like.

    As I’ve generally said: 5G is the infrastructure to lock us all down globally. In conjunction with with the Weaponized Corona Virus all sorts of viruses could be activated and the frequencies are not just 5G but across the spectrum (e.g., 50 Hz EMF radiation can activate the Epstein Barr Virus). As the saying goes ” never let a crisis go to waste.” It could be the virus was intentionally release to foment a Economic System Collapse which could well lead to Martial Law and general mayhem. What a perfect way to force Agenda21/Agenda2030 globally. And that is the larger reason that 5G must be stopped: it robs the globalists of the infrastructure that will be used to enslave us.

    Lately many Open Source Journalists have been speculating that the C-Virus was activated by the specific 50 GHz frequency that interferes with oxygen metabolism. Yet I have yet to read a single article laying out whether this frequency was used in Hunan or other locations where the C-Virus has recently spread. What is clear is our exposure to EMF radiation, in general, has increased many millions of time since the 1890’s. THAT is why we must Stop5G: general increases in EMF exposure have deleterious effects on health (human, animal, plant, insect) and our ecosystem.
    And the problem is multi-faceted: it is not just 5G or EMF radiation in general. GMO seeds, Glyphosate, Pesticides, Herbicides, PFAS, Fluoride etc. are also negative synergistic vectors interacting to undermine human health. And again this is all completely swept under the rug by government and corporate media.

    This is why I’ve always focused on simple policies that can have trans-formative effects. When I ran for Congress in 1996 these were my 3 main planks:

    * Allow adults to grow their own Cannabis: no tax, regulation or government control.
    * A 20 year moratorium on both Legal and Illegal Immigration in order to allow the American Working Class to catch up economically.
    * Stop the offshoring of US factories and the in-sourcing of foreign labor.

    Just ponder, for a moment, how different our society would look today if those policies had been implemented 24 years ago.

    I think I will leave the conversation there. But also consider my current planks:

    Primary Goals:
    1) Remove all 5G infrastructure throughout planet Earth: both on land and in space.
    2) Remove all Smart Meters (Electric, Gas, Water) throughout planet Earth.
    3) Put an immediate stop to all forms of Geoengineering.

    Secondary Goals:
    4) Stop mandatory vaccines which are harming our children.
    5) Stop the emerging agenda (Virginia, CA etc.) to eviscerate the 2nd Amendment (our right to own guns).
    6) Stop the Globalist censorship of Anti-Globalists like me, through mass censorship from all Big Tech Platforms.
    7) Support the universal right for adults to grow Cannabis without any taxation, regulation, or government/globalist control.

    I will provide the link to the source article below. But what I’m saying is we are not necessarily “done in” yet. If this agenda were to spur on a new movement the Globalist Agenda would soon be in tatters. And of course, that is the point.

    Thanks for writing.
    Bruce W. Cain

    https://www.facebook.com/notes/bruce-cain/beyond-the-1st-global-stop5g-protest-january-25th-2020/3963483710344254/ brief thoughts on the Coronavirus and the Globalist Agenda.

    • Joe Gilbertson

      Funny thing about jobs and unemployment, every decade since the 1950’s someone (notably the tofflers, and rifkin) has predicted that some new trend was going to displace jobs and put massive numbers of people out of work. Industrialization, computers, the internet, globalization, AI, whatever.

      And yet…

      Current unemployment is the lowest it has been in recorded history.

      Do I know where the new jobs are going to come from? My extensive research tells me that nobody has a clue. Yet somehow our free enterprise economy has accommodated most of the people who want jobs.

    • Rich

      Spot On!

      Did China “invent” Covid19 in order to slow their population growth which they have been fighting for decades. That could be one reason China kept it to themselves . . . . totally ignorant of the millions of folks that travel the world, daily.

      The outbreak in Italy is logical as China is in the process of “buying” the nation, lock stock and barrel . . . . Italy has had an economic crisis for decades so its easy picking for the Chinese. Hundreds to thousands of Chinese travel to Italy weekly.

      https://qz.com/280247/china-is-buying-up-italy-one-company-at-a-time/

      Your post requires Americans to employ Common Sense and the great majority of those on the Left (Demented-Dems, FAKE NEWS and their “educators” of late night TV) are devoid of that . . . many Dems are like Rats following the Pied Piper into the “tunnel”.

      • Knobby

        Based on the “fatality vs age + health status” data that is emerging, the purpose may be to reduce elderly (ie: dependent) populations. This is a serious problem for the Chinese, and all developed nations, USA included.

        So the long-term effects of COVID-19? Maybe saving the Social Security Trust Fund? Just saying. FYI: I am over 60, and am more likely than most to get taken out.

    • Craig Michael Vandertie

      https://www.cars.com/research/chevrolet-camaro-2020/

      The top of the line Camaro with the largest engine, most HP, most torque all the tweaks retails at $68,000 if your tranny was maxed out with every feature imaginable your assessment would be about right, not like there is any Transam Firebirds built anymore considering their is no longer a Pontiac division of GM so the closest model car to something like a Transam would be the Camaro SS.

    • Knobby

      Easiest way to avoid 5G is to move away from the Cities. We are just now moving to 4G where I live. Rural Appalachia Rules!

  2. John

    Perhaps we’ll get lucky and Malthus’ theory and Darwin’s theory of natural selection will kick in and take out all the morons who buy into your right wing bull shit

    • Edwin

      Uh oh. You mean LEFT wing Bull Shit. Schumer, Pelosi, Shifty Schiff, and the rest of the crowd eager to make us a third world country.

    • Craig Michael Vandertie

      The only psychotic people in this nation are Progressives and survival of the fittest will soon eliminate them, place your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye Libturd.

  3. Neal

    WHO the FUCK cares about prison inmates?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
    We SEND them there FOR PUNISHMENT, NOT to coddle them!!!!!!!!!!
    If they ALL died, fuck ‘em, win WIN for the American taxpayer!!!

    • Marina

      Took the words right outa my mouth!

  4. derek blurb

    There we go again. Natural selection at work.This time not by war massacres. Elimin8 the weak. Make the line tougher… Cough, cough, sneeze, hack, spit blood, choke, turn blue, die.

  5. Craig Michael Vandertie

    Wrong, genetically altered viruses are just that an abomination created at the behest of the tyrannical Chinese government to kill those who threaten their luxurious lives.

  6. Donald Nicholas

    What’s the point of testing for a virus that currently has no cure. Just for statistical reasons?

    • Joe Gilbertson

      Two reasons. If people get infected more slowly, it means that our medical facilities don’t get overwhelmed and can help more people since they will come in over time instead of all at once. Second, we expect to have a vaccine in a year, then we can perhaps eradicate it altogether, hopefully killing the fewest in the meantime.