Farms & Cents = Borlaug & Yunus
The US Census Bureau has a Special Edition comparing data from 1915, 1967, and 2006 – when the US population was about 100, 200, and 300 million, respectively. Aside from Wilson being president and John and Mary being the most popular names in 1915, what does it mean?
The table below shows how 8 factors compare relatively, using constant dollars and 1967 as a base. Some are a surprise to me, e.g., we have a smaller percentage of the population being foreign-born today than in 1915. The chart below illustrates how these 8 concerns weigh in relative to each other.
In 1915 tuberculosis trumped everything. The data suggests today our concerns (aside from war!) ought to be milk prices over gas prices; aliens, legal and illegal but not extraterrestrial (too few or too many?); and not enough farms.
Mohammad Yunus (autobiography) just won the Nobel Peace Prize - for developing micro-loans and starting the Grameen Bank helping Third-Worlders lift themselves by the boostraps – 12 years to the day of accepting the World Food Prize, created by another Nobel Peace Prize winner, Norman Borlaug (just published biography)- who founded the Green Revolution and probably saved the world from a Malthusian destiny. In his 90s and still going strong, you can read and hear some of Dr. Borlaug’s views at an Ohio State University lecture.