Posted on 10/29/2018 10:12:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Although the great engine of American capitalism is now humming on all cylinders, Americans remain strangely reluctant to have children.
That birthrates plummeted during the Great Recession, which ran from 2008 to 2016, is no surprise. Who would want to bring children into a jobless, stagnant economy? But the return of prosperity after the 2016 election should have produced a quick uptick in births. That, after all, was the consistent pattern we had seen in the past.
Despite generous tax cuts and rising middle-class incomes, however, our birth rate remains mired at the lowest level ever recorded in American history.
How low? At present, we are averaging only 1.7 children per couple, well below the 2.1 needed to maintain our current population.
These dismal numbers presage a sharp downturn in the numbers of American-born citizens in years to come.
Some will hear this and shrug. Our birth rate is still higher than Germanys, they will say, adding that like Germany we can simply import the workers that we need.
This is like consoling a patient with congestive heart failure by saying that he is better off than the dying patient in the next bed.
After all, Angela Merkel opened Germanys borders to caravans from the south in 2015-16, partly to show compassion and partly to solve her countrys birth dearth. But what she thought would be a ready-made cadre of workers instead turned into a massive societal and economic debacle. Because of language, cultural and educational barriers, only a minority of recent immigrants to Germany are gainfully employed.
With factories now moving back to the US, and unemployment rates at historic lows, the pressure to import workers into America will only grow.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Unfortunately, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Muslims don’t have a “fertility” problem. White people need to get busy, lest we become extinct because of our own “lack of activity!”
Just doing my part !!!
End the socialist March of America
Lower taxes
Shrink government
Stop attacking Christianity
Stop embracing abortion
60’s era feminism has achieved its desired end.
Women feel worthless without careers, and/or the institution of marriage has been so destabilized that they’re afraid not to have them.
All from the desks of ZPG planners.
Happy to oblige, I’d like nothing better than to participate in the boom — when a good Christian comes along. Such men are getting scarce. And even then, sparks should fly.
Simple solution, outlaw abortion and increase the child tax deductions to the point that a middle class married couple with 3 or more kids pays no taxes so that the wife can afford to stay home.
Fastest way to fix this is to reverse the family court law which deems the father is as evil and disposable. Also to decrease the population of the Islam Nations you need to reverse Sharia law in which the women have no rights and institute a version of Western Law.
Western women today know they can ditch the father, take his wallet and alienate the children from him...where is the incentive to sire children in the western world?
Young Americans live in an atomized, materialist society, focusing on hyper-individuality, rights, and victimhood. Many are already in debt, thanks to our printed, fiat, manipulated monetary system, which engages in financial repression to fund government and our financial and business oligarchs.
We can say their behavior is rational, given the circumstances
On that first chart you can see that when the 2008 depression hit the birthrate went down like a rock and co tinier to do so under Obama-Mao.
As the economy improves and people have more money the birth rate will naturally go up.
I am the middle of 5 kids, and the father of 5. All over 20. No grandchildren yet, and none on the way. The kids just don’t seem interested
“But it won’t be enough for two BMW SUV’s in the driveway of a five bedroom McMansion and annual overseas vacations. So little will change.”
Don’t be so pessimistic, the only constant is change and the current dearth of children cannot last forever. Once the baby boom generation meets Jesus or, more likely the devil, things will get better. Supporting that generations retirement is sucking so much money from young people that they cannot afford kids.
>>But the return of prosperity after the 2016 election should have produced a quick uptick in births. That, after all, was the consistent pattern we had seen in the past.
Radical feminists don’t want Western breeders making babies.
Not everyone should have children.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.