outside of famine/war conditions, birth rates have historically been (much) higher among people (much) poorer than most americans. I think the difference is more that social support structures are weak, “standard of living” expectations are high, education is both expensive and necessary, and contraception/abortion are widely available and relatively destigmatized
Yeah this is a huge part of it. Boomers were able to give their kids good lives. Millennial can’t even give their kids the same standard they have. People want to give their kids a better life than they had, but this is impossible without a house and a yard and extra money for game consoles and extracurricular and playmates and all the shit that was taken for granted in a 90s childhood.
The birthrate is only about 15% lower than in 1975, and 90% of the US population is in a state of financial crisis as severe as the Depression. People should be celebrating that it isn’t cratering that hard.
“America is a third world country, and people don’t recognise it… and I think that that’s pretty god damn sad, that they don’t recognise their own country as a third world, third rate, third class slum.”
Feels like “Most people are poor as shit” is a pretty good indicator. No need to write a whole article about it.
And, unlike any other point in history I’m aware of, we have contraceptives so we can keep fucking without having babies.
outside of famine/war conditions, birth rates have historically been (much) higher among people (much) poorer than most americans. I think the difference is more that social support structures are weak, “standard of living” expectations are high, education is both expensive and necessary, and contraception/abortion are widely available and relatively destigmatized
People are poor but if you are poor and have kids there is a huge stigma attached to it if you were raised middle and upper middle class.
Yeah this is a huge part of it. Boomers were able to give their kids good lives. Millennial can’t even give their kids the same standard they have. People want to give their kids a better life than they had, but this is impossible without a house and a yard and extra money for game consoles and extracurricular and playmates and all the shit that was taken for granted in a 90s childhood.
Nail on the head. Would my hypothetical kids be fine without the treats I was given as a child? Probably.
Would it be exhausting to justify internally, explain to people, and face judgement from family? Definitely.
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hm the fed’s survey of consumer finances says the median household wealth in the us is $192,900 as of 2023 and that seems pretty high
That covers ~15 years of the average cost to raise a child. Huh, maybe this is the source of the child labor push.
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The birthrate is only about 15% lower than in 1975, and 90% of the US population is in a state of financial crisis as severe as the Depression. People should be celebrating that it isn’t cratering that hard.
“America is a third world country, and people don’t recognise it… and I think that that’s pretty god damn sad, that they don’t recognise their own country as a third world, third rate, third class slum.”
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