MIM Notes 36                   March 3 1989

U.S. population boom to continue

According to the New York Times, "The Census Bureau reported for the 
first time today that the United States population would decline in 
the 21st centurey after peaking at about 300 million." (New York 
Times 2/1/89)

It did not seem significant to the census or the Times that 
population would increase another 52 million between 1990 and 2030, 
a 25 percent increase over the current population of 246 million.  
The continual population growth is one of the key factors which Marx 
considered to compensate for the relative tendency toward 
underconsuption in a capitalist economy.  This means that there is 
continual downward pressure on the wage rate and that the relative 
saturation of any given domestic market is put off.

Paul Sweezy sumarizes: "If, in such a system, population growth is 
rapid, an equally rapid growth of variable capital is possible without 
any upward pressure on the wage level and hence without an adverse 
effect on the rate of profit." (Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist 
Development,1970, p.222)