[Steve_Seattle]

"the rise of income inequality has divided Americans into those who marry and those who don’t."

The problem is not "income inequality" per se, but the declining wages of the middle class. The existence of millionaires and billionaires does not prevent ordinary people from having babies, but when you need two incomes (in most cases) to sustain a middle-class lifestyle, babies are likely to be fewer.

When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, very few of the women on my middle-class street worked outside the home. Shoe salesmen could afford to buy a house on their income alone. Those days are long gone. The question is, why?

[roadcat]

When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, very few of the women on my middle-class street worked outside the home. Shoe salesmen could afford to buy a house on their income alone. Those days are long gone. The question is, why?

And that was normal. My dad raised us five kids on a meager low salary (less than $1000 a month), was able to afford owning a house. My mom took part-time jobs here and there, but most of the time was a housewife. Very common to see households near my home with four to eight kids and a single wage-earner. I attribute it to the rise of taxation of all forms, and government waste.

[WinMod70]

“The question is, why?”

The automatic transmission came along, that’s the root cause.

[Pietro]

"The question is, why?"

Might have something to do w/ over half of your income going to one government or another.