then there was this, on the senate floor ted kennedy of massachusetts, when out of his way to explain that the democratic party was absolutely not trying to replace the american population with more compliant, foreign-born voters. no way, that is an insane conspiracy theory, he explained. this bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. it will not upset the ethnic mix of our society, it will not relax the standards of admission. it will not cause american workers to lose their jobs. [laughs] it s all bitterly amusing when you look back because of course that is precisely what this bill did. it changed america completely and forever and the numbers show it. in the years since that legislation passed the united states total population exploded by 140 million people. you are seeing that chart on your screen now. what direction does appoint? steadily upward. where did all those people come from? there s nothing wrong with more people. the question is, who are they and where
people. the question is, who are they and where did they come from? what you are seeing is not the kind of organic growth you would see in a healthy society that has become more prosperous and welcoming to families. it s not like people were so confident in the future they decided to have markets. it is just exactly the opposite of that. in fact, since ted kennedy s bill became law, birth rates among native-born americans, which of the clearest possible measure of optimism in the future, those have dropped off a cliff and you are seeing that chart on the screen now, the inverse of the first charge. this chart points downwards. in 2020, the most recent year for which we have data, the overall fertility rate in the united states hit the lowest point ever recorded and that was before covid. this country is well under the so-called replacement level. meaning if we continue in this trajectory, and no one is try to take us off this trajectory, eventually there will be no more native-born ame
either by defeating out right or by slowing down or by discrediting anything he tries to do, so it is the root of the filibuster, norms no longer operate to restrain the behavior. in the late 60s, maybe 10% of all serious legislation was subject to some kind of filibuster related delay. now it is 90%, 95%. it is constant. norm, so then explain this to me. you have a better sense and i don t know your position on this. maybe you agree with it. what is the appeal of the talking filibuster? what problem are we fixing? i am very happy to try and move the pressure onto the minority, and talking filibuster might make a difference in a handful of cases. the problem is the one the chart points out and tom emphasized. it is twofold. the first is it is no longer an
in the late 60s, maybe 10% of all serious legislation was subject to some kind of filibuster related delay. now it is 90%, 95%. it is constant. norm, so then explain this to me. you have a better sense and i don t know your position on this. maybe you agree with it. what is the appeal of the talking filibuster? what problem are we fixing? i am very happy to try and move the pressure onto the minority, and talking filibuster might make a difference in a handful of cases. the problem is the one the chart points out and tom emphasized. it is twofold. the first is it is no longer an isolated individual, a mr. smith. it is a party strategy and if you have got 40 people or more who are willing to talk and all you have to do is stay at it for five minutes and then hand it off to somebody else, it doesn t solve the problem.
october of 2009, and it was still at 9.1% just last month even after we spent nearly a billion dollars on the president s stimulus plan. so how does this chart and the reality of it play with voters as we gear up for the presidential election? fox business network s lou dobbs is with me now. lou, i mean, the promise wasn t kept, and the charge already is you overpromised and underdelivered. reporter: well, that s sort of typical, though, of government, isn t it? this chart points out a number of things. one is the underestimation of the depth of the crisis that we faced going into 2009. it also is a tribute to a monumental excess confidence in government power to do something. over the economy. this is an absurdity that is trying, that this administration s trying to compound now with the jobs act. every economist points out, every major economist points out