| Tober said: This is a really good point. But why are 'native' people not having enough children. This did not appear to be a problem 50 years ago or centuries before that. A few decades ago a blue colour worker could support his family, buy a house on one income (my father did). Not so anymore. As a middle class worker you're going to need a 2 household income to afford a house. Plus having children gotten more expensive. Result is that people delay having children, have fewer children or no children at all. One could look at immigration to solve the child problem, or one could look at why does a 'middle class income' is not enough anymore. |
To turn it around, why do developing countries have high birth rates. The answer is (in part), your children are your care takers when you get older.
One of the unpopular answers is female education and empowerment. Women have careers as well nowadays as opposed to 75 years ago when they were expected to stay home and raise children. Also stimulated by religion. Career planning is difficult while having kids and getting pregnant is still a sure way not to get hired or passed by for promotions etc.
And why are 2 workers not enough nowadays, capitalism, consumerism and the rise of Oligarchy.
50 years ago you didn't need a car as much, you lived where you worked, you shopped where you lived. Now everyone has moved into suburbs and 'needs' multiple cars to get around. You didn't (still don't) need all the luxuries we're used to now. Take out your car payments/insurance, fuel costs, internet, phone, AC, holidays, you have a lot more money left over...
People also live longer today.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-age-changes-since-1950/
So not only can you leave kids until later (I didn't have kids until age 35), living costs have also gone up simply because people stick around longer.
The big problem is, our societies are designed post WW2, during the baby boom, forever growth in mind.
And then we let capitalism divert all the wealth to the 1%...
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/opinion/leonhardt-income-inequality.html
Wages for the middle class have stagnated since the 80s.
It's going to take a lot of change to fix all this. First the government needs to be reformed to be for the people again, not just for the 1%.
