My theory is that the Baby Boom that occurred after WWII was largely due to a sense of confidence, economic and physical safety and a hugely successful middle class. As part of that generation, I noticed that people who had large homes and lots of space had larger families than those living with lesser means and smaller houses.
As this translates into the lower birthrates today...All of the conditions I noticed as a Boomer are the exact opposite today. Real wages have not increased. This isn’t because people are earning less money. It’s because of inflation. No sane couple are going to have children if they don’t feel secure financially and physically. (Would you send your white kid to a public school? If not, how the heck are you going to educate him?)
Bring back cheap gas *Trump*, cheap houses and cheap electricity...steady jobs *Trump* and you’ll have another baby boom.
Add to this the fact that 42% of births that are occurring are single-mother births, with an immediate net drain on society due to an ever-increasing demand for government support and it is obvious the collapse has already occurred but we haven’t seen the full effects yet.
Plus at that time, America was largely a paternalistic society that supported the nuclear family unit.
Nowadays, America is against every man. If you get married, you better hope that your wife is decent. Otherwise, she'll take your kids, everything you own and you'll be responsible for child payments until they turn 18. Even worse, you may never see them because there's a chance that they've been brainwashed against you.
So we are having a lot of problems and we have not been addressing them. In the meantime, our birthrate will continue to drop. It shows you that our civilization is sick.
“My theory is that the Baby Boom that occurred after WWII was largely due to a sense of confidence, economic and physical safety and a hugely successful middle class.’
Yes. That is clearly part of the answer. The other part of the answer is that we are watching the death of a nation. That death is for the most part self-inflicted (like so many other civilizations).
How will it end? It’s hard to tell but there are plenty of candidates. The continued expansion of a breakdown of societal norms (defund police, woke, the loss of religion, etc.), the break-up of the U.S. (this will require a civil war as before), or out-and-out armageddon by continuing to poke our adversaries (Russia & China) both of which have the growing potential to destroy us (and likely themselves in the process). While there is no doubt we have a great military it sure seems they have lost their focus while it is clear our adversaries have not. And remember, motivation is a critical key to the success of any team effort — our military and society are losing it fast (assuming it is not gone already). And finally, economic collapse when the chickens come home to roost from the 30 TRILLION in debt we owe to ourselves and the world. It could be one or all of the above in combination.
By the way, we are due for changes. Watch this short video from a few years back from The Fourth Turning author that prophesizes this 80-year pattern to a tee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yfb2zQjKWE&t=2s
By the way, the book was published in 1997.
I hope I didn’t leave out anything I’m sure I probably did.
When will this happen? That is hard to tell. It has happened to civilizations the world over and from the beginning of history (10,000 B.C.). My best guess is well before 2030.
Will it get better? Probably. But long after the crisis is over (like the 1930s and 1940s) and we have no way of knowing how it will look when it does get better.
Best of luck.
IC Clearly
The population of the US in 1950 was 150 million compared to 334 million today.