Regular reader Stephen Coquet checks in:

I've been thinking about the declining birth rate myself for some time now. And I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with Liza Boyd. But there is so much more to it. Have you noticed that every economy on the planet — every economy worthy of being called an economy, that is — depends on continual growth? And when birth rates decrease, the shapers of economies get really upset. It isn't hard to figure out why. If the population actually decreases, houses will be empty. There will be no need to build more and more at an ever increasing rate. And then what will happen to the mortgage industry, and all kinds of banking? Car manufacturers won't have to keep making it acceptable to buy a new car every three years, even though they are so dependable now that you can get twenty years out of them with little trouble.

There are only two types of organism that must have continuous growth: cancers and yeast. As for the former, there is not much to say. As for the latter, just ask any bit of sediment in a bottle of Moet et Chandon how well that works out.