[murdoc9]

I say bring it on, this country and this world can handle a great deal many more people, it just requires adjustments - that can be planned for. Food, housing, land, energy, these aren't problems. What is the problem is the cost. As costs increase so does the incentive to produce, as more production comes on line, costs settle down - basic economic theory. We have the ability to feed our cities, without anything from the outside (excluding, of course, materials needed for construction), by building gardenscrapers, for example - but the costs are way too high to justify it right now, so nobody will invest in developing that technology. If the population projections mentioned here are accurate then the incentives will present themselves to people wanting to make a profit when that time comes. Unfortunately there is a time lag in these types of ventures. If planners or the appropriate authorities are actually serious about this possibility (planners yes, authorities don't usually think past next november, let alone 100 years from now) then we should see some incentives provided to the markets to speed up the process.