[extropy-chat] Psychology of investments in infrastructure

[BillK]

On 7/3/06, spike wrote:
<snip>
> There is one other wild card here.  Spanish is a far easier second language
> for Asians to learn than Inglese.  The Japanese guy that runs the local
> sushi bar commented that he is far more fluent in Spanish than English, even
> tho he wasn't really trying to learn it.  He worked at English, but absorbed
> the Espaniol.  Spanish might become the defacto favored second language for
> the melting pot that is Taxifornia.



Hispanics are already the majority in California, so if they organise
their voting power, Spanish will be the first language in California.
:)

<http://www.census.gov/> has the detailed reports.

An interesting news article:
<http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/UPDATES01/606150372/1005/NEWS01>

Quotes:
49 percent of recent population growth (births and immigration) has
been Hispanic.
Only 18 percent of recent population growth has been among
non-Hispanic white people, while blacks account for 14 percent, Asians
for 14 percent and American Indians for 4 percent. About 1 percent of
the recent population growth has been among people of mixed racial
background.

The nation's population profile has dramatically transformed. In
Johnson's day, only 9.7 million residents were foreign-born, or about
1 in every 20. Today there are 36 million foreign-born, or nearly 1 in
every 8.

Non-Hispanic whites are now a minority in California and Texas, the
nation's two most populous states.
-----------------------

A point not directly made in this article is that the Hispanics are
mostly very concentrated in the southern states.

<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/004704.html>

Most (88 percent) of the nation's population growth between 2000 and
2030 would occur in the South and West, which would be home to the 10
fastest-growing states over the period.
----------------


The other implication is that the southern states will be where the
young people are. (Except for the Florida retirement communities). The
white northerners will be a rapidly aging, reducing percentage of the
population.


BillK