No, I think he is spot on. How can you overstate raw fertility rate data? He backs up his case exceedingly well.
By the way, Goldman is a FReeper.
I'm trying to remember what exactly my friend said. I think he mentioned that, say, one of the statistics was that college educated Muslim women have a low fertility rate. Which would make you say, "yeah, but does it really matter? How many Muslim women are college educated anyway?"
I'll take your word, though. I may have to order the book or check it out of the library.
As for you, allmendream, it's true that America had vast tracts of land to conquer. What if I showed you that Britain and Germany also had high birth rates, since they were not expanding geographically? I bet they had relatively high birth rates, but it's surprisingly difficult to find any historical data for them. I'll keep searching.
What exactly do you define as a reasonable birth rate? In 1960, American women had a fertility rate of around 3.5 and black women around 4.5. Our borders were no longer expanding at that point and infant mortality was also not the problem it once was.
And let me add that that is besides the point. No one here has been arguing for massive birth rates. We're just arguing that the low birth rates will create significant problems. That's what you seem to object to.