The author is a journalist only insofar as his submission made it past the Washington Times online-only editors, which is probably much easier than getting an article published on Cracked.com.
The article almost completely glosses over death rates, mentioning them only tangentially via the observation of innovation during times of warfare. What about people that die of natural causes? Without knowing that number, the 80 million new humans a year statistic is impossible to evaluate.
As far as "birth credits," even if the proposal wasn't borderline completely Swiftian in tone, enforcement on a global scale would require a force more insidious and terrible than the Nazis the author so quickly turns to as a counter-point. That's the most ironic thing about Ms. Wideman's idea; in order to work, enforcement would require a militant, totalitarian system like has been never seen on this planet. There is also human nature to consider. If people have been going to war for eons over competition of resources, what do you think is going to happen when Country A is a signatory to this insane idea, and Country B (who has more young soldiers, natch), decides to invade them?
Just so much stupidity here on so many levels.
