While government policies supportive of families (especially two-income families, the ones that are doing less reproducing) will indeed enlarge family size, it can only go so far. Industrialization of society has changed the basic reason behind having a flock of kids.
"Be fruitful and multiply," works for an agricultural society, where each mouth to feed came with a pair of hands, and a pair of feet to bring in the harvest, and where a substantial number of offspring are going to die prior to reaching reproductive age, but that rule just doesn't make sense in the modern world.
True. Unless of course you are an illegal alien from Mexico or the middle east. Each mouth to feed comes with a pair of hands to mooch off of industrialized society.
Pish-tosh. Plenty of people living comfortable, modern, American lives have large families. It's simply a matter of your priorities.
How many children are your granite countertops worth? Your "garden bath"? Your "tray ceilings"? Do you lie in bed at night thinking, "My ceilings make me so happy!?" I lie in bed thinking, "My baby makes me so happy!"
(Note, this is a rhetorical "you," not a personal "you.")
Our society is more productive and supports a greater number of people in greater comfort than any agricultural society. If people choose not to have children, that's their business, but to claim it's economically unfeasible is simply false.
Sure it does. I have 9 kids, and they are educated, productive adults living all over the world and literally influencing the lives of millions.
They are doing G-D's work, and I am very proud of each one of them.
Ping to post 78.