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I was just catching up on my Malthus on Wikipedia.

Unless the Wiki was wrong, I was struck by Malthus’s belief that this was just a natural condition that is currently being remedied. It was just the natural order of things. It wasn’t a “crisis” the way people talk about it today. The population, then as now, was being held in check. Not by central planning, but by a wide assortment of things.

He was saying - “hey, utopian society builder who is worried about the underclass in 1790s England, here’s the deally, no matter what you do, no matter what perfect society with no poor people that you think you’re going to build, it’s not going to work.” There is a natural tendency for population growth to the point where death occurs from starvation, unless “checks” are in place. One thing to note is that starvation is not mass starvation necessarily. It’s just a barrier to utopian societies where there are no poor people.
Right now, and there has always been, someone starving somewhere. It’s not a crisis. It’s a natural condition.
But the Leftists are saying it’s a crisis. Social Conservatives might note that Malthus recognized “vice”
as one of the things that served as a “check”. Poverty was seen as a beneficial check.

Some, such as William Farr[31] and Karl Marx,[32] argued that Malthus did not fully recognize the human capacity to increase food supply.

So, Marx was arguing with Malthus, huh?

I know it’s Wikipedia, but it’s unlikely to be completely off the mark, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus

It’s just interesting that he sounds like a Conservative, not a sky is falling Liberal which is what many think he is, because the Leftists have twisted his meanings. The one line takeaway from Malthus is

There will be too much Overpopulation and Everyone will Starve to death.

Which isn’t what he said. If you make everyone equal, everyone starves at once I think is what he was saying.
No matter what you do, someones gonna starve, or die in a war, or a dui crash (vices), if you want to remove these checks, you’re gonna face real problems. But if you don’t worry too much about war, or poverty, everything will be fine. The virtuous will thrive and those with vices will fail, and that’s ok.

Seriously, check this out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus