US Birth Rates Plummet To 40-Year Low || Peter Zeihan

[@venomlink2033]

As a 26 year old, this doesn’t shock me at all. Starter homes are 300k in most places now.

[@andersdottir1111]

Grab one now before they go up again- in Australia a starter home is twice that.

[@mcadaal]

300k is very reasonable. I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.

[@Bdavis2475]

450k to 550k here in Austin

[@dutchmaster1999]

700k in my area

[@ebythebeach]

$3.5M in my zip code.... insanity

[@anobody5708]

My wife and I don’t want kids, my brother doesn’t want kids, the people I know that want kids can’t get pregnant, the ones who want to adopt can’t afford it. The universe has a great sense of humor.

[@teekay_1]

At the end of life, people's best accomplishments are successful children.

[@psychohist]

The ones that want kids should look into ART, particularly IVF. Granted that might put them in the "can't afford it" category, depending on their state's health insurance rules. Still, one can even resort to using a surrogate for the price of adoption.

[@JohnJourdan88]

*your wife doesn’t want kids You do

[@DrinkyMcBeer]

​@@teekay_1george washington had no children. Is he a failure? People can have all sorts of great accomplishments they can br proud of that arent having children.

[@kosta2177]

2k per month for child care. That’s all I need to know to make a decision. And if you want two kids can you imagine level of life you give up for someone who in 13 years will scream at you with attitude

[@Lonovavir]

The modern economy is killing the birthrate. Most people can barely afford to sustain themselves much less a family.

[@artistforfreedom]

Norway is living off of interest. Why aren't we doing the same thing?

[@THEBEEEANSS]

Then why didn't this same thing happen in 2007 and then recovered in the mid 2010s? The economy has nothing to do with this, it's a cultural thing.

[@Saixjacket]

@@THEBEEEANSSit’s women don’t want to date anyone who isn’t hot or established. They’d rather date other women and men who are now women 😂.

[@ChristAliveForevermore]

​@@THEBEEEANSS Culture is a product of economy, not the other way around.

[@walterkeith3711]

Screw Christian family growth it's them that caused it

[@bglrj]

I am 71 years old. I remember when I was young that everyone was terrified that population was going to explode and that the world would end. Now I hear that population is going down... And the world will end. I've got whiplash.

[@More_Row]

Thanks for contributing.

[@TanyaLairdCivil]

In a way, the world is ending from overpopulation. There are still only so many resources on the planet. We've so far avoided mass famine by deploying new tech, but we're still running hard up against environmental limits. We have 8 billion people on the planet, and all of them are trying to live a resource-rich first world lifestyle. Then people wonder why the cost of everything has skyrocketed. Wouldn't what we observe in our society be exactly what you would expect a society running hard up against material limits to look like? The biggest one is simply limits on the amount of waste we can generate. You can only pump a finite amount of carbon into the atmosphere until we're all burned alive. And we're already crossing those limits. The most likely climate scenario by the end of the century has us sitting at +3C warming, which would mean the collapse of global food production and the loss of every coastal city on the planet. Hell, people talk about places like Miami like they still have a future. When talking among younger people, one of the biggest reasons people are choosing not to have children is the obvious calamity we are heading towards. We've all seen how crazy the weather is getting, how frequent "once in a millennium" events have become. And this ride is just getting started. We've already past the point in climate change where casualties by the century can be kept below a WW2 equivalent. Present efforts at climate change mitigation are trying to keep casualties to merely a WW2-level, rather than an all-out nuclear war level.

[@douglassun8456]

10 years behind you, and I remember the same. And we're still alive, in spite of it all.

[@danieparriott265]

@@TanyaLairdCivil Another Doomsayer .... how long did Greta say we had? How about Al Gore? Paul Ehrlich? Panic mongers, all of them.

[@TanyaLairdCivil]

@@danieparriott265Tell that to the snow crabs and the coral. Tell that to the people fleeing central America after the collapse of farms at the hands of a wildly swinging climate. Tell that to the dead of Hurricane Otis. Tell that the millions choking on the smoke of the burning forests. The problem you're having is that you're in denial and have found ways to explain away all of the blindingly obvious evidence right in front of your face. None are so blind as those who choose not to see. But in the end, when the disasters come for you and your home, you will be the one first in line with your hand out begging for aid. You will conclude that you are one of the good, hard-working, deserving people, and all those that came before you were lazy scumbags.

[@andrewpolito9244]

Daycare for one child cost almost as much as my mortgage. It is crazy

[@sergeant64]

One of the reason is that if you like to have kids you needs a car and that is made very expensive in EU. And there are other problem that is related to the "cocktail" that seems to affect the birth rate.

[@worndown8280]

Imagine if the mother stayed with their child.

[@izzytoons]

Well, we have to support the 1% shareholder somehow.

[@danielm5161]

@@worndown8280 Thats hard to do when she has to work 40 hours a week

[@jd-py5nm]

we found a small in home daycare in our neighbhorhood literally cost half what the daycare centers cost

[@passivelyasking4825]

I remember being a little girl and hearing my parents, their friends, and various other adults in my life proclaim that "people shouldn't have kids if they can't afford to care for them" that it's not anyone else's job to assist you. This is america, where rugged individualism reigns supreme. We all took those messages to heart. It just seems like dammed if you do dammed if you don't at this point. Oh, you were responsible enough not to spread your legs and pop out some kids when you couldn't afford them, well your just selfish. Oh, refuse to lower your standards enough to just date and marry anyone even though we told you a bad partner is mostly due to your poor ability to select. Well, you're selfish. Oh, you had kids, but only one? That's not enough. Have more or your selfish. To be fair, though, most of this is probably chronically online nonsense. I assume most well-meaning individuals are happy when people who don't want kids or don't want to raise them never seeing them in a one bedroom apartment opt out.

[@whickervision742]

I've heard the same hypocrisy myself. You're not crazy.

[@pllpsy665]

Bingo. "You just had to go and do all the proper right things wrong"

[@lucindabreeding]

And so often, the blame is cast on feminism. No one wants to admit that our economic system deliberately atomizes families from their families and their support system. Add to that that we do not and probably will not have a nationalized healthcare system in the next 25 years? You have a system designed to make people so dependent on their jobs to have access to healthcare and housing that of course parenthood is going to be seen as a luxury for an awful lot of couples. I don't know a single, solitary man who makes enough money to afford a modest home where I live and support three or more children on his salary. The only man I know who can do that is a doctor whose wife was a physician assistant and, between the two of them, were able to save enough money for her to to stay at home and care for their three children. Now, he's putting her to work in his new practice. But I seriously don't know any man who could buy a house, two cars and have three or four kids on just his salary. Not without going into obscene debt, and not saving any retirement for his wife. And that's the terrible bargain women have to make. To afford children, they have to work full-time, or they have to make a decision to forfeit saving for their retirement. We are already seeing more senior citizens become homeless in this country . Get ready to see a whole bunch of elderly women who are homeless in the next 25 years. I tell every young woman that if she's going to stop working to raise one or more children, her husband either needs to be an extremely high earner, or they need to adjust their life so that he can actually pay her a wage and save for her retirement.

[@JesusLovesEVERYTHING]

Always blaming women for everything

[@Clintsessentials]

Spot on! Don't have em', if you can't afford em'!!!

[@jamesbohling4864]

This is what my grandfather would call "Eating the seed corn." Great for a season. Horrible after

[@serafinacosta7118]

Grandpa was a wise man.

[@kevinpritchard3592]

Amen

[@thomasrial4444]

Our corporations care more about an increase of 1% in revenue than the future. His words are very important.

[@johncostello2948]

Whenever I took too long in the shower as a kid, my grandpa use to yell through the bathroom door, "Stop shuckin' the corn and give someone else a chance!" Another was "Stop lopin' the mule..." I love those old sayings and still miss him and his sense of humor.

[@Matthew-li7we]

@@serafinacosta7118 Now I aint trying to say he wasn't wise, but not being a dumbass can accomplish the same feat.

[@stapleman007]

For my entire life I've been told people having children is unsustainable, and needs to be reduced. Sounds like the goals have been met.

[@JasbirSingh-zj1fg]

They lied to you. They didn't tell, and still are not telling, any such thing to the Muslims and the Hispanics.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

Who was telling you is not to have kids? Why? What did they have to gain? Was it being done just to ruin your civilization?

[@theinfinitymachine9610]

Thank you for this. I choose to be childfree until I die even with higher income and a house. The Japanese and German economy is still hanging on -- they have guest workers. This whole labor shortage is blown out of proportion. Corporations need cheap labor. The emergence of AI could change the calculus for worker:productivity ratio. So many unknowns. People who don't have kids can save money and make preparations for their future nursing home. I know I am.

[@SeattlePioneer]

[@artistforfreedom]

Norway

[@lutzfilor8253]

Really our society is getting off the rails. I am listening to my children and they are afraid to have kids.

[@Synodalian]

With the rising cost of insurance, healthcare and housing, coupled with a collapsing public education system due to inadequate funding and resource allocation, why should we _not_ be concerned about having kids? It's easier to think about procreation when you're not constantly having to wrestle with the kind of world you're about to inherit.

[@Bdavis2475]

I have a kid. It's not as bad as people say. If you have 65k household income you can afford a kid. And you need friends

[@artistforfreedom]

Norway does it differently. Why are we building more roads, stadiums, parks with no plan to pay for the upkeep or replacement cost.

[@moonpleiades99]

Good, they should not have kids, unless we can really straighten out this horrible mess.

[@lutzfilor8253]

@@moonpleiades99 i don’t think conditional dependencies aka circumstances should be determine your family planning. Fear and anxiety are not external circumstances but internal adaptations.

[@Ianskogberg]

No room, no time, no energy, no money.

[@strigoiu13]

you are describing africa here. but guess what, they still make kids! your whining is fake!

[@johnl.7754]

Throughout history people have always found ways to have children if they really wanted them. I’m not saying it is good or bad just that people have chosen not to have them as much anymore including myself and my wife.

[@Mellonen-Galadh]

@@johnl.7754 They were also having children without wanting them. This is the difference nowadays, with contraceptives.

[@calc1657]

​@@geocam2Perhaps there is not great optimism about the future.

[@infidelheretic923]

Kind of makes me wonder how the Gazans seem to manage it.

[@rudeoldguy]

When I'm done paying off my student loans and buy a house, I can afford to have a kid at the age of 55 lol.

[@jakeaurod]

Only if you hook up with a woman half your age, but then all the fembots will accuse you of robbing a 30yo baby out of the cradle.

[@jimluebke3869]

Student loans were a mistake. Discourage every kid you meet, from taking them on.

[@danieparriott265]

@@jimluebke3869 When trades are paying as well as they are and it costs nothing (pays in fact) to learn on the job in many places .... dropping tens of thousands a year for years, of borrowed money for a "degree" that doesn't guarantee you a job that will pay that back quickly .... that's just stupidity.....

[@boristheamerican2938]

No no no, by that time the corporation you work for will be downsizing you because you are too old and no one else is gonna hire you. Such a silly person you are! :)

[@boristheamerican2938]

@@jimluebke3869 But corporations want the 4 year degree or else its no job for you.

[@MrNachoponcho]

I live in Texas and it’s not even affordable to have kids here because property taxes and real estate is so ridiculous. Not to mention completely broken school systems so why even bother?

[@Derek032789]

Yeah Texas and Florida are getting expensive now as well.

[@TrailRunnerLife]

Excuses are cheap, and no one cares. Go do something.

[@lucindabreeding]

@@TrailRunnerLife what would you suggest?

[@lucindabreeding]

I recently drove around a brand new neighborhood near a brand new school in North Texas. These were starter homes - 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. Postage-stamp-size backyard (but that might be a bonus for a dual income family). They START at $500,000. Texas property taxes are so high that, last November, voters passed a constitutional amendment to get some relief. Here in North Texas, where it's growing like crazy, it's difficult to find a family doctor and healthcare here is very expensive. And Texas has very, very little welfare.

[@melissagreye8445]

Texas is still more affordable than many other places like Canada, Australia and many places in western Europe.

[@SuperDrake85]

No shelter = no children.

[@moonpleiades99]

​@Merlin.Twigglesnot true for jerks that do not care about consequences, or for the souls they are bringing into this hell.

[@user-microburst]

If birds can’t afford a nest they won’t lay eggs

[@heathermichael3987]

Well said .

[@turtle-frogs]

The movie bladerunner. Maybe the future around the corner.

[@alucardwhitehair]

Nonsense. The poorest Americans are having the most kids. The poorest countries as well. We just don’t want kids anymore.

[@Rowlph8888]

Assumption with no basis.Women have much less liquid income in past times. the low birth rates are global, including the Third World, which means the reasoning is partly pollution, partly chemicals in the food, but also increased selfishness.

[@tooboukou8ball702]

get out of here with your basic logic, and give me my rent money you pleb...

[@TheeSamuelNelson]

Car payments on a luxury car is now cheaper than daycare

[@ebythebeach]

Well my uncle loves his car more than his kids so.... Makes sense

[@artistforfreedom]

Take a look at Norway. They, the country, are living off of interest. What a concept.

[@jonathanjacob5453]

Sounds like daycare is an excellent business opportunity.

[@skibumrx]

@@artistforfreedomit’s not quite like this anymore. I think you’re imagining Norway of 15 years ago.

[@lapprentice]

😂. Get this... My mortgage is around $600/month while the childcare for my 2 children is $1,700.

[@internet_internet]

I can’t even afford myself, let alone a family. My sister, who is a well educated medical professional who has been making good money for years yet still can’t afford a house, has said verbatim “if I ever end up having kids, I do not want to raise them in this country.” I would be lying if I said that I haven’t also thought about seeking life elsewhere. I don’t know if that’s the right answer or not. On one side of our family, we are 10+ generation Americans. On the other side of our family, we’re 7-8th generation Texans. Let that all sink in…

[@MyBelch]

I moved to Thailand at age 42 when I retired from the USAF in 2006. I've only visited twice since then. Best move I ever made. America embarrasses me now.

[@robertbrindle8901]

GO TO JAPAN NO POVERTY - NO HOMELESS PEOPLE FILLING THE STREETS YOU WILL BE FINED IF YOU SPIT YOUR USED GUM UNTO THE SIDEWALK THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CARE OF ITS PEOPLE GREAT PEOPLE - GREAT FOOD

[@kel8026]

I moved to Argentina for my first kid, Brazil for my second... very good choice

[@alst4817]

Love how Texas is a different category to US😂

[@mtngrl5859]

@@MyBelch There are a lot of things that go on in Thailand that have been covered up for years like the underaged s--x trade. This has been going on for years to young boys and girls there.

[@xxmattopsxx3931]

It's almost like I can literally watch the prices being gouged week by week at my store. I want kids at some point, but I'll probably never be able to afford it.

[@danieparriott265]

You'll never do anything but eke by with that attitude.

[@whickervision742]

A 12 pack of Pepsi broke the $10 mark at the grocery store. I almost rage quit. I don't even drink soda anymore. For reference, a 24 pack was $5.99 twenty years ago.

[@xxmattopsxx3931]

@@danieparriott265 what attitude mate it's fucking 4$ for a can of soup.

[@danieparriott265]

@@xxmattopsxx3931 You do not shop very well then: who pays 4 bucks for SOUP? Soup is what you make of kitchen scraps ... and cannot cook, either, apparently, so you buy what they offer and pay what you must, I guess .... I did just buy two cans of cream of chicken soup last week for $1.29 ea (SALE!) added a 98 cent bag of frozen mixed vegetables, 35 cents worth (cup and a half) of rice and and 1 pound of diced chicken bought on sale in a bulk pack... added a pint of homemade chicken stock ... made a nice casserole that fed the whole fam...

[@xxmattopsxx3931]

@danieparriott265 No shit I don't buy 4$ cans of soup. The fact that it's even 4$ is the problem.

[@TrineDaely]

Houses are unaffordable. Higher education is unaffordable. Kids are unaffordable. That's what happens when corporate greed runs everything.

[@Gaming_Antics]

Corporate greed makes America a 💩 hole country for the middle class and lower class Americans.

[@user-gz4ve8mw9l]

Add to that the lack of universal healthcare in the USA, unlike the majority of developed countries.

[@evilds3261]

Also, why would anyone have kids if it is not profitable? The US Healthcare system makes it clear that money matters more than people.

[@TrineDaely]

@@evilds3261 Kids are not a commodity. Having them is not based on "profitability."

[@evilds3261]

@@TrineDaely That's the whole reason people had them throughout history. Kids worked on the farm!

[@Mr.Zen_73]

About the same rate in Australia as well. Housing is ridiculously expensive and wages are not rising to keep up with the cost of living

[@TheToplessChefWB]

I was literally talking to a friend about this topic, which is why he sent me this vid. It took the Roman Empire 300 years from its peak to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This collapse is far more rapid for current developed nations. I hope the Arabs and Africa doesn’t take over the world. All I can say is I’m glad I saw the end of peak humanity with the 1980’s, Arnie, Rocky, Rambo, etc. We are currently at dyed purple hair and identifying as sofas 🤦‍♂️😩

[@AndrewinAus]

From the 90's through to about the 2010 period Australia's birthrate was tracking significantly below the US. From the 1970's to projections out to 2026 the number of people over 65 years of age will have gone from about 8% to 22%. Government policy for much of the past 20-30 years has been designed to keep wages lower.

[@Graahk-r8u]

@@TheToplessChefWByeah I’ve been getting roman empire vibes the last few years for the west. hope we turn it around.

[@mitchconner403]

Get ready for the boomers saying, “nah they are just the lazy generation” Which is just the dumbest argument

[@dzonikg]

Problem is that west threat housing as GDP and not basic necessity for living.The more expensive housing the bigger GDP number

[@davypete7]

My wife and I, in our mid-30s, are expecting our first child next month. The largest reason we didn’t have the child earlier is simply economic. Everything is so expensive. Even now, she won’t have paid maternity leave.

[@gagamba9198]

Why should her employer pay for maternity leave?

[@Nun195]

@@gagamba9198r u dumb?

[@taylorc2542]

Pay the father and he'll pay for the mother. Paying mothers just leads to broken families.

[@ericjames7819]

People much poorer than you had many children throughout human history. You are just self centered.

[@markiic]

​@@gagamba9198 Its subsidied, employer doesn't pay, state does. Taxpayers to be more precise. These kind of policies are gonna become more and more popular as this problem becomes more and more mainstream. Immigration is short term solution, this would be long term

[@bm8406]

I mean ... how long did we think people could thrive in the US as wages have failed to keep up with cost of living and inflation? When adjusted for inflation, the 2023 federal minimum wage in the US is 40% LOWER than in 1970. What we are doing in the US is not sustainable, and without some major corrections it will only get worse. See the multitude of other comments below to find out what's "in the water" in the US. We have allowed corporations to make their own rules for too long, we have deregulated ourselves into a grave. If I were young, I wouldn't want to bring kids into this mess either.

[@danieparriott265]

So fire the boss. Become self employed. Simple.

[@RD-jc2eu]

@@danieparriott265 So, you advocate an economy where everyone is self-employed. Hmm... I don't think you know how modern economies work (that is, the means necessary to produce the universe of raw materials and intermediate goods and services upon which rests the surface layer of goods and services that most of us interact with on a daily basis in a contemporary economy).

[@GBU61]

Once things go too far one way, it will adjust. The 70s were bad, then the 80s went the other way.

[@midragga]

The rich, in my point of view, are starting to look like piñatas day by day

[@danieparriott265]

@@midragga Try that in America, and you'll be bringing a stick to a gunfight.

[@MCLEO983]

I'm a millennial parent home owner and I'm focused on affording groceries

[@charliedontsurf334]

Same.

[@anthonycoon6955]

Thank biden for that

[@bradyfuglie9667]

Funny I read and hear this so much. I am too. Guess what? So has every previous generation. My great grandparents were all farmers in the great depression. They had 4-6 kids. The only food they could afford was what little they grew during the dust bowl and made their own clothes. They turned out fine. If I lived like they did, no electricity, internet, live pretty much off the land with the job I have, I'd be a millionaire by now. Things are not that bad.

[@shadowfiresword]

@@bradyfuglie9667 Bit of a different mindset, my grandfather was one of those dustbowl kids. His father used the kids primarily for free farm labor, and even then it was rough enough that some of the older kids had to drop out of public school so the family was earning enough to eat. Not saying it can't be done, but that is a hell of an ask, especially for kids that are born into that life and had no choice in the matter.

[@anthonyml7]

ok

[@aleidius192]

If growth is not sustainable, it is not high quality growth.

[@zorkmid1083]

Growth is usually not continuous.

[@teekay_1]

Inflated currency is not growth.

[@TanyaLairdCivil]

This is what people miss even about environmental concerns. Things that are unsustainable, by definition, will not be sustained.

[@eriklondon2946]

This is the anti-human cancer of a lie that has been pushed onto millennial and younger generations by WEF and their evil followers. Never before have a species intentionally ended itself, til now. Learn about Mouse Utopia. Its all been planned and implemented against us. Only 1/4 Millennial women have children. The richer and more highly educated (as long as its not Progressive/Woke (anti-human) than the better, cleaner and more efficient a society is. This is why the US is clean in relation to places like China.

[@FlyLifePhil]

Subsidize families instead of corporations

[@danieparriott265]

People that say crap like this have never run a business. And never will.

[@whickervision742]

​@@danieparriott265making some kind of logical misstep here. Nobody is asking your business to pay for children. And the government gives out incentives to large corporations all the time.

[@danieparriott265]

@@whickervision742 Property and sales taxes both fund the local schools and State sales and State and fed income taxes fund the SNAP and Low income housing (the residents of which pay no property tax to fund the schools their children attend ...my taxes certainly DO go to support the children of people that pay no taxes at all.

[@danieparriott265]

@@whickervision742 And they are not "asking" ... The State Dept. of Revenue and the IRS don't "ask" .... It's not an option ... well it actually IS and option: pay what they say I owe, or pay enormous fines, go to jail and have my property seized. So.. the option is, pay for the sluggards and their children, OR face destruction of my business and the life situation I have spent decades building. Not really much of an option, is it?

[@topicalstormofficial]

How about don’t subsidize either.

[@thunbergmartin]

As a swede I posed a similar question to an urbanist (while in architecture school); where are we supposed to settle down with families? and was low-key laughed at. Its sad to look at my country and see (although not abysmal, but with hidden statistical errors) birth rates go down.

[@zapfanzapfan]

Yeah, we hit a low point now with something like 1.4 despite recently being at almost replacement level. I guess covid and Putin might have something to do with it the last couple of years.

[@milohrnic2023]

Small town, obviously. Just bring your work with you.

[@billymorton102]

Yes, bring work, but,not the bad habits or ideas of where you left from. ​@@milohrnic2023

[@billymorton102]

The encouragement and incentives from All sources is what is needed most. Hate me if you must (haters gotta hate) but, we must recharge and turn back to traditional ( GOD blessed) family values and encourage marriage and worship or we are all doomed to wallow in the mire!

[@kevinpritchard3592]

They guy that did the laughing is what we refer to as an educated idiot. You were 100% spot on my friend.

[@nijadbahnam9859]

The problem with most nations , states, or countries that put economy first at the expense of society finished with neither .

[@tracym8952]

Is that a Janet Yellen quote?

[@billmoretz8718]

In an agrarian society kids are free labor. In an industrial or service society kids are expensive toys.

[@nebrag4200]

I like how you used Ben Franklin’s prose to write this insight.

[@41chemist19]

You can have an industrialized society that has a higher birth rate, we're just doing modern society wrong.

[@taylorc2542]

Nothing is better for the economy than a new human contributing to the GDP.

[@timothyscott6365]

I live in Amish country and they are one of the fastest growing populations but in the past 10 years or less Amish families are shrinking or not having any family at all so if it is getting bad for the Amish I can't imagine how bad it actually is. I honestly think we are in for a population collapse in 15 years

[@CharlesVaughn-bm9gq]

Wait! Sixty years ago the liberals like Paul Ehrlich who are still alive forecasted massive global starvation because of over population. I think his book was “the population bomb.” Oops. Same nuts are forecasting a climate change catastrophe. We always figure a way to resolve our challenges. Don’t bet against America.

[@wyleecoyotee4252]

I hope many young girls are escaping that cult

[@elitalks258]

A record number of young people, especially young men, aren't having sex. I'm 28, and I've never even kissed a girl. I went on ONE date when I was 21, and that's it.

[@ErnestLordGoring]

May I ask you to go into greater detail? I’m quite similar and enjoy researching the topic

[@elitalks258]

@mj405 I won't even bother with dating apps. Gender imbalance aside, women are attracted to familiarity. Much better to actually meet them in real life and chat them up.

[@MikeNaples]

I hear you. I have a 24 year old nephew (professional student) who to our (the family) knowledge has never been laid and seems to have no interest in women (or men). I keep reassuring everyone he’s a late bloomer but am starting to have doubts.

[@elitalks258]

@@MikeNaples Is he trying to meet women or not? Because in my case, I just don't.

[@MikeNaples]

@@elitalks258 Doesn’t seem to be trying at all. When I was his age it was all I thought at about 24/7. Most of my friends were likewise afflicted. Colonel Ripper (Dr. Strangelove) may have been on to something with his preoccupation with fluoride.

[@mwarnas]

Boomers pulling up the ladder behind them has a LOT of consequences.

[@Tempusverum]

NIMBY’s forbidding the construction of new homes and boomers refusing to hire, increase wages or step down in addition to hoarding all acquired wealth with them to the grave

[@ronaldbobeck9636]

Ah Do not blame this Vietnam veteran here, I was tossed under bus oh yes we were . But yeah cry me a river.

[@dctrscuffed6839]

@@ronaldbobeck9636 My grandfather fought in Korea, and then again in Vietnam. Before he died a few years back we were talking about the crazy housing prices and he told me that his generation and my parents generation were like greedy pigs at the slop bucket, and that he felt sorry mostly for my children’s generation.

[@martinscarton4561]

@@ronaldbobeck9636you are still part of the wealthiest generation in human history but dont whine about that do you?

[@ronaldbobeck9636]

@@dctrscuffed6839 But if you notice your Grandfather did not include himself. We the Military,were more alike to the Templer Knights we owned nothing, however what we did for , owned every thing just as the Templer were eliminated when they ,we were not longer necessary.

[@BrianSantos-h9e]

Right now may be one of the worst times to raise children in America. even if you are able to afford them their prospects seem dismal at best.

[@danieparriott265]

Why? Things have never been better.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

This argument is inevitably made by someone in every generation, and you could find a rational reason to justify it. You could probably also find a rational reason to justify why now is the best time to have kids. We don’t know the future, whether it would be good or evil depends on actions taken . Raising good children that are good people makes the world a better place.

[@masonwelty8058]

​@@SeanEustace-zk3mcSo you're just going to ignore the money aspect?

[@BrianSantos-h9e]

@@SeanEustace-zk3mc the only time that could compare is during the great depression or during the civil war.

[@BrianSantos-h9e]

@@danieparriott265 what ? they have beeen much better including during my life time its only really after 2008 that things have been going down hill.

[@Lili_Chen2005]

San Fran is hella expensive, man. I lived there for most of my life and recently left for college. I was blown away by the difference in the cost of living. Like, you can live in a dorm for just $50/week and want for nothing, but for that first semester, my mom was sending me $200 each week and worrying herself to death about me having what I need. That's because $200/week isn't really enough to live on, and rent is, like, 4k/mo back home. It's totally wild, so yeah, that's quite an incentive not to get preggers or have a traditional family of three kids.

[@sinesaii]

Also. It should encourage you to move somewhere for normal people (when I left Manhattan my tiny apartment rented for $3,000, then moved to Chicago where a huge 2-bed loft was $950).

[@mitchconner403]

I went to college at Colorado, the debt, rent, and food. I don’t think my bank account has ever been above $10K And I am working as a software engineer making 75k a year. Even if I wanted to have kids, I couldn’t

[@danieparriott265]

@@mitchconner403 So your problem is obviously you expenses, and not your income.

[@mitchconner403]

@@danieparriott265 🤣 god, thanks random person on the internet. You totally know about my spending habits 😂 assumptions make an arse out of you and me.

[@idiottv6499]

@@mitchconner403 $75k in the US? Brother, you're making eastern European contractor money. I should know as I am one.

[@bigwheelsturning]

As a child of the 40's, we were cheap labor, so there were a lot of us. Now children are an "expensive hobby", and not everyone can afford them, and their insane demands.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

I agree with you 100% but even people that do not plan on having kids have to get behind paying people to have kids who will have them if you have none and your neighbor has 10 and your other neighbor has none and your other neighbor has none and the Social Security system can still work. You don’t have to have the kids yourself you have to encourage policies that makes it possible for those who are willing to have kids to have kids your future and the future economy depend on it. Perhaps you think you’ll do better foreigners looking over you an old age homes , if so, go down that route

[@franglais-riders]

That! In very rural poor and societies they still keep having many kids, one: because infant mortality is much higher and second: because it is free labour and someone to take care of you in your old age. Modern, city dwelling society: kids are a financial black hole, they leave at 18, when old and too frail to stay home, you are packed to an old folk place where staff will abuse you ( at least in the UK!) and no one ever come to see you. Why bother? Plus all constant the doom and gloom.

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

I rather die then being a cheap slave.

[@Europa1749]

They were assets in the past because they worked on the farms. In the city, they are expensive 20 year liabilities.

[@johnslow8351]

Anybody else see a difference in how grandparents help? My nearest grandma had a dozen grandkids living within 20 minutes and almost always had a couple of them at her house. They got fed, entertained, and looked after. She made a point of having food the grandkids would like. It was a relief valve for four of her kids. I don't see that as much anymore.

[@crescent4996]

Well also the modern economy now encourages, if not forces young people to be willing to travel and move to find the best job opportunities. Extended families don't all live in the same local area near to the degree they used to. Forcing costs of daycare, etc.

[@briankier2189]

Boomers don’t want to be grandparents…some do but most don’t they are still worrying about what they can take now since most of them have retired and are a drain on our monetary policy.

[@mtngrl5859]

Well, Grandmas are still working that's why. What used to me the average of becoming a Grandparent is now the age of people still having children. Many of the Gen-X are still working, so how can they be there to take care of kids?

[@RepentImmediately]

My father was 52 when I was born...I was caring for him at a time when most people are caring for their children. My mother is 74 and working cuz she pretty much lived on alimony for 30 years and saved nothing. It's hilarious to me when people talk about grandparents helping raise kids. I met my grandparents maybe 3 or 4 times

[@mtngrl5859]

@@RepentImmediately Many people who had much older parents or had to care for sick parents are the ones least likely wanting to be parents themselves, they've already done all the nurturing they want or need to do.

[@jacobgordon7998]

This is what happens in our country when the 1-10% squeezes everything they can out of the poorer classes and aggressively looks for bigger and better ways to squeeze more from the poorer classes. Most among the poorer classes can't afford to raise kids and so many don't have kids. It all boils down to the rich screwing over the country for their own selfish gain when they don't need any more than they already have and that has knock on effects.

[@etebol]

Thank you! Agree 100%

[@stevenbenson9976]

Globally. This is happening everywhere

[@oldestgamer]

The true true!

[@dcc70]

I can't help but think all the talk about global warming and climate change might discourage rich people from having kids. Why bring someone to the world to face impending doom?

[@ystconnection]

Historically, you get others who are pissed off and barge in to the estates of the rich and take their stuff. Just saying, if it gets bad enough, no one will follow the law and take it in to their own hands.

[@MostlyHarmlessNebr-gb6di]

I'm curious why it's cited as a "40 year low"? Were fertility rates 1.6 or less in the early 1980s? They were not. Were they this low at the lowest point of the post-boom fall (roughly 1977)? No. During the Great Depression (the previous low)? No. Then why is it a 40-year-low and not an "all time low"?

[@DrinkyMcBeer]

They are looking at the total number of births, not the average number of children per person. We havent had this low a number of babies born in one year (3.6 million) since 1979.

[@gagamba9198]

You're right. US dipped to 1.74 in 1975 during the stagflation era but rebounded during the '80s and '90s, and re-attain 2.1 in 2006. Great Depression low point was 2.1 in 1936.

[@DrinkyMcBeer]

@@rudicode8338 what might be worse, the fertility rate? Of course it is lower than it was in 1979. That was the entire point of the OP. The fertility rate is at its lowest since ever. That's why they questioned how this is the lowest in 40 years, and the answer is because it isnt looking at fertility rates.

[@fromthefire4176]

Think it’s a coincidence they actually banned abortion?

[@whickervision742]

Stop talking about the 1970s old farts!

[@jhouser972]

My advice to younger people is do not have kids unless you can pass down generational wealth. Things will be much more difficult for their children than today, and they'll need all the help they can get.

[@TrailRunnerLife]

Unfortunately, no one values your advice. Stay bitter, my friend.

[@alipainting]

This is the advice I give my daughter. I'll be leaving my condo in a Living Trust for my granddaughter so that she doesn't have to go through the hell I went through in the abusive working world. She'll be able to walk away from those sort of jobs.

[@zs9652]

Issue with that is that ai might make even generational wealth pointless. If the ais get smart enough to replace everything including leaders that is. Which they seem to be on track for.

[@artistforfreedom]

The advice I gave my sons: Be ready to step into opportunities. You will be paid more than I was because your skills are in demand and will continue to be in demand, and they will pay more for those skills. They didn't go to college and both own their own homes. Lots of kids. Generational wealth is overrated. I taught and showed my kids to believe and dream big. The problem with a victim-view life is you are waiting for someone to rescue you. And beware of anyone suggesting you are a victim. They either need your money (watch those videos) or vote. The world turns for a reason.

[@SushmaVivek-xq4nv]

Seriously inheritance tax in some countries are ridiculous

[@robertmershon7254]

We have two kids, we won't have three. Daycare is $600+ a week for two kids. How can a family afford that?

[@onionfarmer3044]

By not sending them to daycare?

[@AUniqueHandleName444]

@@onionfarmer3044 My thoughts as well

[@apierre6]

Then your family goes down to one income, families can't afford that either. Both outcomes are crappy​@@onionfarmer3044

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

You should push for the government to pay stipends for women to stay home rather than daycare and have four or more kids. This is what’s going to solve the problem not paying for daycare. There’s a nasty thing about daycare. No one talks about most of the women working there don’t end up being able to afford having kids so it’s a net loss because you have, one group of women working so the other group can make better money will keeping some women childless. We need to pay whoever is willing to have kids to have kids. We need to pay them for the more kids they have as many as possible, such time that the birth rate recovers otherwise we are not going to have an economy in 20 years. If we do not act now we are in trouble this needs to come up in the next election cycle is now

[@BootyWarrior80892]

@@onionfarmer3044but then if the mom stays home then the lose income which puts them way under the poverty level. Most husbands dont make enough to have a stay at home wife where he pays the mortgage, car payment, health insurance, house insurance, car insurance, phone bill, utilities, saving for medical/miscellaneous emergencies, saving for return for both you and wife And that’s just the wife and husband Not factoring in the growing needs of kids

[@genreartwithjb5095]

CEOs are Big Mad they won’t have a cheap supply of future workers

[@wussrestbrook1200]

Pretty sure ceos can just move their businesses to countries with favorable demographics. You think Americans are some ubermensch people or something

[@genreartwithjb5095]

@@wussrestbrook1200 sure and they are welcome to close the door on their way out too, go wreck other countries but leave the US in peace

[@genreartwithjb5095]

@@wussrestbrook1200 America is extremely desirable if you are a greedy CEO - to a point. It is actually cheaper to do business on the freelancer level in Europe bc you don’t have to pay a cost of living where healthcare is potentially baked in. But if you are looking to skirt labor regulations and exploit your workers the Us is pretty appetizing compared to the other country of which I am a citizen - Italy

[@mtngrl5859]

@@genreartwithjb5095 No offense but Europeans are really lazy. My husband has a team of workers in Europe and they can't keep a deadline, so many excuses. There's a good reason where salaries are about 50% lower in Europe than in the US. When I say Europe, I'm not referring to the UK or Ireland, continental Europe is whom I'm referring to.

[@samobispo1527]

…so, they will import them from Abroad.

[@Aragorn-87]

Falling birthrates which are under replecement level is a sign of a collapsing society. If people belive in the future and can afford it they will have children

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

Population sinks like capitalism are destroying that. You don’t see two fat cows and eight starving cows in nature. All these problems are man-made problems. We do not have a free market economy. We have a command and control economy, no matter what any of you want to pretend and the people at the top are going out of their way to make it hard for the people at the bottom Other reason, then pure greed if it does not end, it will be ended for them in a way that involves piano wire and bridges and they will not like it

[@odoylerules4503]

I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who thinks we'll just "figure it out like we always do". This is but one jigsaw piece of the metacrisis

[@sojourner99]

They're already figured it out. They are importing your replacements who will live on and occupy the land you are on.

[@artistforfreedom]

I was looking at Norway. They have figured it out.

[@THEBEEEANSS]

@artistforfreedom incorrect. Norway is in a similar position to the US despite its radically different system.

[@oldskoolmusicnostalgia]

@@artistforfreedom Nobody has figured it out. Not a single country on Earth has been able to reverse declining birth rates: once the rot sets in, it's terminal and no amount of state-funded childcare or subsidies has been able to shift that. There are egregious examples of failed pro-natalist policies in Singapore, Japan and more. Things look slightly rosier in Europe, until you realise they are propping up figures with migrant youths.

[@SomeGuyNamedTodd]

I sure as hell ain't having kids.

[@josephang9927]

So no retirement or entitlements paid by other people Kids' either for You

[@SomeGuyNamedTodd]

@@josephang9927 Considering I pay into social security, I would expect something once I hit the age requirement. I've been working on my own retirement plan since I was 18, so I expect I'll be in good shape regardless if I make it to retirement age.

[@joshtroufield]

@@josephang9927fair

[@AgainstLife1000]

@@josephang9927 Also childfree people should not be paying for children's education, their medicaid, or any taxes that goes towards your children.

[@josephang9927]

@@AgainstLife1000 exactly. All collectivist entitlements are immoral.

[@sobeeaton5693]

When my wife was pregnant, someone told me to figure out what causes that, and stop it.

[@alexander15551]

wtf

[@psj68]

I saw what you did there

[@charliedontsurf334]

People look at us like “get a tv” because we have 4.

[@Keckegenkai]

lol

[@otrab1080]

In Australia, Millennials and Gen Z are priced out of settling down and starting a family.

[@internet_internet]

In the states, too.

[@jamiebell2727]

But yet immigrant families are smashing out 3-5 kids

[@NWbeats]

It's the same story all over the western world. Here in Germany the mortgage rate for a small house is simply unaffordable for the average household income of a young couple. Governments are constantly coming up with new building codes, cities are not giving up enough land for development and this is why the demand & supply is completely distorted. Which is then abused by housing companies and landlords.

[@vaderkurt7848]

​@@jamiebell2727 That's because they don't know any better. America isn't how it used to be.

[@RenegadeRanga]

Welcome to communism.

[@Tim9460-o9t]

My daughter has one child and says that’s enough. Her and her husband work long hours and still barely get by. Thankfully they have family to help with childcare. I don’t know of anyone having big families anymore.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

You need to get women that will stay home and have 4 to 6 kids and pay them to do so. Paying for daycare doesn’t work removing people from the labor force drives up the cost of labor and people can make a good living again and housing cost will go down if you bring an immigrants housing cost keep going up. It’s very simple supply and demand economics. I know that people that own businesses don’t want to pay taxes and don’t want to pay their employees, but the externalizing of costs onto other people cannot go on forever and it is destroying the system. You have to think long-term if you think you’re just going to collect a bunch of money now and don’t care what’s going to happen in the future good luck having someone to take care of you make you bread and food, in order to exchange for that money you have will become worthless as the decreases. Less people make the Costco up.

[@RepentImmediately]

​@@SeanEustace-zk3mchow much does she get paid to produce a child with ADHD and Autism? That's all Gen X seems to have produced

[@danthony4348]

I suspect that the declining birthrate is going to get worse for a long time.

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

Politicians will not stop transferring more and more wealth to the top. So yes buckle up ! It will be a bumpy ride.

[@Phoenix-vg8li]

I got snipped 22 years ago I can barely afford food and rent. And its not getting easier. Let the rich reproduce

[@MyBelch]

Never, they just open the borders -- not caring what the country will be like after they're gone.

[@anthonyml7]

It's true, having kids tends to be a luxury or problem of the wealthy lol

[@richardgillette5759]

Let the poor have kids and then we can just pay their welfare

[@quinnjohnson9750]

If things don't change then only the rich will have kids. What a wacky future that will be.

[@TrailRunnerLife]

Glad to hear it - and don't worry, we are still having kids 🤑

[@doesntno]

We did it guys! Woo-hoo!!! Aw man, It's an honor to have not contributed to increasing the human population. I'd really like to thank all the politicians, corporations and greedy landlords. Without you guys none of this would've been possible. 40 more years! 40 more years! 40 more years!

[@artistforfreedom]

Greedy people are the problem. Oopsy, you need another clue. You own something someone else will give you coin to use and you call it greedy. I call it a retirement plan. Victim life is so easy.

[@LarsonChristopher]

Family court…. My peers won’t make kids due to the risk of family court.

[@Nobody90019]

You gave the closest to the correct answer and got one like. Sad world.

[@KombaynNikoladze2002]

Incels don't have to worry about family court.

[@NA-rj9lk]

@@KombaynNikoladze2002I can’t tell if this is pro or anti incel

[@whickervision742]

I'm terrified of how bitter and drawn out divorce can be. And so much of divorce is due to economic and financial reasons. The USA hates children and considers them an expensive burden. Expensive administration of school lunch, cripplingly low teacher pay, no guaranteed parental leave, no guaranteed time off to care for a sick child. This country sucks.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

@@whickervision742 The problem with your comment is that countries like Germany have such things, yet have an even lower fertility rate.

[@GK-qc5ry]

No surprise that a combination of culture, society, economy and technology has caused this.

[@taylorc2542]

Sorry but our woman have failed us. They've never been more hypergamous while returning us a low birthrate.

[@visitante-pc5zc]

Exactly. Socialism.

[@bixbysnyder-00]

It's mostly due to corporations paying people what they can get away with. Low wages are not conducive to starting a family.

[@lfischer8380]

In the 1975 - 1980's Women had birth control to chart the course of their lives. They moved into careers Why? It was reinforced because of massive inflation of the Jimmy Carter's era.

[@PowerSimplified1871]

I just hope US doesn't becomes parasitic Communitarian Family. Especially Endogamous one in Muslim countries.

[@blondoband]

Creating generational problems for your own children, blaming your children for the problems, and shaming them for not fixing them is hysterically funny

[@agi5820]

No money, student loan debt, finally got a job 2 years ago that made a living wage, then inflation ate it all up, now I'm working a high level job getting paid the same as I did in my last role doing nothing lol

[@talideon]

Yup, that's what happens when you can't afford housing and have been saddled with debt from college.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

You’re not wrong

[@theinfinitymachine9610]

In other countries like Finland and Japan, the state allocated some funds to ensure proper childcare needs are met. They still have a population problem. In the US, we have no adequate childcare, even parents who can afford the 2000 a month to register have to fight for limit d spots. The childcare workers are paid slave wages because the contracted agency that lobbied with the govt gets most of the benefits. The only folks who can afford to have 5-6 kids are homesteaders living on a farm and home schooling their kids. Not everybody wants to live this way.

[@ModernCowboy78]

My wife and I are 45 and decided not to have kids so we could afford to live a comfortable life.

[@TrailRunnerLife]

Selfishness isn't as cool as it might seem now. Best of luck in your 70s 😂

[@ModernCowboy78]

@@TrailRunnerLife selfish because we don't want kids lol are you fucked!

[@jenw9463]

@@TrailRunnerLife You shouldn't have kids for the purpose of supporting you in your older years. There is no guarantee they will take care of you. People need to do what is right for themselves, people shouldn't have kids because some right-wing rando on the internets says so. 🤣

[@artawhirler]

​@@TrailRunnerLife It's not "selfish". Nobody has the slightest obligation to have kids. As for your comment about "best of luck in your 70s" - well, I'm 68, never had kids, never regretted it for a second, and am now finding out that old age is the best time of my adult life.

[@Tirelesswarrior]

​@TrailRunnerLife It's a little absurd to describe someone else's choice not to have kids as selfish. There are tons of endeavors that offer fulfillment beyond kids no matter what age one is.

[@danielcunningham2394]

If the gov't becomes unstable and corrupt with all the wealth going to the top 1%, why watch your kid starve.

[@ROBOROBOROBOROBO]

Those birth rates are much lower in Socialist countries.

[@wihenao]

Top 1% is not the problem here. Wealth is going to the old

[@gagamba9198]

@@wihenao The old die and leave it to their children and grandchildren. What's happening presently and will go on for about two decades is the greatest transfer of wealth in human history, but many governments want to seize that for themselves.

[@Dreadwolf3155]

yeah because so many American kids are 'starving'. this is an assenine statement

[@danielcunningham2394]

@@wihenao I am old and broke, your bit is an oversimplification, and so was mine. So here are the reasons for what I said- a company I worked for a coworker told me to hide my age, and never sign up for the quit smoking program in the benefits package because the insurance co would suggest I be let go. Now a lot of folks smoked there no one doesn't kick themselves every time they light up and it's expensive as hell. Ageism is illegal but a political budget cut reduced the staff of wage and hour commission so their backlog is 1 1/2 years. I had signed up before I heard so gone in a week. I would go on but trying to work 2 jobs just to make ends meet overqualified for both. So try a shorter bit, a quote from a moderately wealthy man that mercifully helps me out when shtf- "never forget, the insurance companies, the banks and the gov't are the enemy.

[@jordanwhite8718]

The thing about having children is that the two things you need for it which are time and money are not things that a lot of people have nowadays.

[@ericjames7819]

People had even less of those things throughout human history than they do today.

[@More_Row]

@@ericjames7819 Arguably they lived in better times. The biggest difference is technology. Change my mind.

[@ericjames7819]

@@More_Row hundreds of thousands of years in the stone age wasn't better times. Thousands of years subsistence farming wasn't better times. Yet through all these times people had more children than we're having today.

[@AUniqueHandleName444]

@@ericjames7819 they also didn't have contraceptives, and didn't live in a planet where they were consuming 5-10x the amount of sustainable resources available on the planet. It's good that we're not having many kids. We simply cannot keep doing what we're doing with this level of population.

[@RussClarkRocks]

As you scroll on your $1100 iPhone, you should read up on Medieval history or the life of everyday folks throughout history. You're soft. We all are.

[@daetros1626]

Yeaaaah as a 42 year old childless millennial, I want to point out that we can't afford anything beyond rent/mortgage, bills, and groceries. Very VERY few of us can actually afford luxuries like regular nights out let alone vacations etc. Why should an entire country work hard just to bloat the coffers of a few rich assholes? We keep hearing "things are going to get worse" and we just shrug. We're screwed anyway, with no power, no leverage, no money, and no hope.

[@JohnJaneson2449]

College tuition 50k-70k. Ridiculous.

[@davidjoycohen4560]

Why are so many people still angling for a college degree when the job market is more desperate for blue collar workers and willing to pay?

[@SteveWithers]

In the 1980s my wife's law degree cost....$120 / year. Neo-liberal economics completely screwed young people starting out by loading them up with debt.

[@c.f.okonta8815]

@@geocam2I agree

[@greigger]

​@geocam2 pull yourself up by your bootstraps he says. Lol. Get outta here with that ship, tuition is an absolute scam these days.

[@gagamba9198]

CLEP tests to earn uni credits cheaply. That will take care of a semester or two - depends on what the receiving school allows. Junior college to take care of the BS prerequisites. Last two years at a public uni at in-state tuition rates. In-state rates tend to be one quarter that of out-of-state. Re out-of-control uni costs, mostly due to the growth of administrators. Start sacking them and end _in loco parentis_ .

[@descheinepoli8045]

Mr. Zeihan, i am glad you survived the harsh winter in Colorado. Now is the time to look for a place to stay. I can help you get accomodation. You dont have to be homeless, Mr. Zeihan.

[@williamreyes468]

We are all worried about Mr. Zeihan being homeless. 🤣 But... Colorado is sooooooooo beautiful. Plus there can be snow on the ground, it’s 50F with 10% humidity I can walk around in a T-shiirt!

[@tyree9055]

I just want to see him do a night video... 😂

[@JinKee]

weren’t you listening to this video? condos are bad for your baby making abilities

[@dicksonluiakitperday2532]

Mr Zeihan probably collapsed he may need the Baby Boomers to buy him a house.

[@descheinepoli8045]

@@JinKee so is being homeless and freezing to death

[@TheMontagPress]

we haven't seen anything yet. that birth rate is going to plunge under 1.

[@K3r0411]

And it’s going to get worse in the wake of overturning Roe. One in four pregnancies naturally ends in miscarriage, about 8% of pregnancies develop complications that can become life-threatening without medical intervention, and as a woman myself I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than risk pregnancy in a country where depending on which state you live in it’s now okay to turn pregnant patients away from ERs out of fear of legal problems

[@mgtowcowboy8159]

Feminists love abortion.

[@egblund]

So true. I wouldn’t even think of becoming pregnant in one of those states- too dangerous and with doctors leaving those states, very little pre natal care as well.

[@ss-ds2dn]

Yup

[@karenhardie1132]

Stories of hospitals turning away women having pregnancy problems. One lady said they told her to leave as she was bleeding and passing out. They would not help her. 😢

[@jupiterthree5228]

They're air lifting women out of Idaho to get abortions. It's insane. Imagine a federal ban... If loads of fertile women die or lose their organs, they can't try again. That's even fewer babies being born.

[@friedrichjunzt]

Even in the scaninvian countries, where education and healthcare is "free" (e..g tax-based / universal), people don't want (enough) kids. Why? The cost of living. It's just too expensive to have a big house or appartment in the cities (where the jobs are). And with 2 or even more kids you just need more than a 1-room-appartment.

[@MyBelch]

Make the job unnecessary -- you need to start in your early 20s -- and move away from the cities/absurdly expensive countries. I've never taken an Uber. I've never watched Netflix. I've never paid to play a computer game. My phone bill is $8/month with unlimited internet. I have a 13 year old daughter whose lifetime daycare expenses are exactly zero. Neither me or my wife have worked since 2006 (I was 42, she was 30). I have never bought anything from Starbucks.

[@mrbonanza2606]

Were not having kids because we can't afford them, the rich may be doing well in America but the working class is not. Why would I bring kids into this fate?

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

That is common sense. But conservatives can only think with their bible !

[@FreeFallingAir]

Not many want to bring a child into this mess.

[@kevinjohnson8220]

That's been said since the 1960s

[@pllpsy665]

@@geocam2 They did not know it was a mess.. They did not take bet on the future. They just didn't give a ...

[@danieparriott265]

@@kevinjohnson8220 It's been said much longer ago than that.... in the middle ages, people that said that became monks and nuns.

[@danieparriott265]

Mess? Things have never been better for most people. Consider for a moment that nearly half of all children born in the United States in 1800 died before the age of 5 ... by 1900 it was still more than 2 in 10 .... 1 person in 7 in human history died of tuberculosis, and this disease is rare today, and has been for almost a century. 4 generations ago, oranges were a rare thing in most of the country, most of the time, now they are in every grocery store year round. 200 years ago, books were expensive treasures only the rich could afford to collect ... ~100 years ago philanthropists and local governments began to create libraries that you could borrow books from ..... and today you hold a device in your hand that can access the sum total of human literature from anywhere .... You have access to clean running water, food has never been cheaper in terms of cost or time .... why is it that people can only look at the worst things in the world, even if they are far away, ignore all the good things, and say the whole world has gone to shit?

[@whickervision742]

​@@danieparriott265rent is too damn high.

[@bcfortenberry]

I’m closing in on fifty and I’m grateful everyday I’ve never had a child. I get the sense that what’s coming won’t be good.

[@Michael-do2cg]

Im 46, best thing I ever did was not have kids. All my old friends with kids are living in hell and hate their lives.

[@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma]

@@Michael-do2cg But you outsmarted them all and are going to live forever. Cool. I'm not sure about that strategy for myself. I am going to die, question is when, not if. All things being equal, it doesn't even matter if I was a happy panda all my life or lived through hard times.

[@Michael-do2cg]

@@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma I dont want forever at all.

[@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma]

@@Michael-do2cg No, no, that's the point. You are not going to. Therefore, it's irrelevant if your life is hell or heaven on earth. It matters even less how personally comfortable you are, when it (your lineage) ends with you. I'm not saying that personally about you, don't get me wrong. This is true in general. Many people can't have offspring anyway, so it's not like anyone's going to judge you for your life choices. Feel free to not have kids. But, others will have them and their kids will inherit the time and space. It matters what they will think and how happy or unhappy they can be. Simple rationality. You are simply stepping out of the picture. Which is understandable, given existentence's horrors.

[@Michael-do2cg]

@@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma Thank you for an enlightening reply.

[@ladyeowyn42]

There is no support for families. I won’t have another child. Children are luxuries.

[@rogerthornton4068]

This should cut down on all the traffic congestion.

[@lawrencefrost9063]

Positive attitude. I like it.

[@CorporationscontrolNewMexico]

We have air taxis comin'.

[@nraketh]

Nah. The rich will just let in a lot of immigration to balance it out. They don’t care whether us peasants breed, they can just get more.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

Yes, along with gas taxes that pay for road maintenance. Tax money that pays for Social Security and other safety nuts which are going to be used by the masses of old people going forward they won’t let prices rise they keep bringing in immigrants which keeps driving housing and rent costs into the stratosphere.

[@orly1950]

My wife and I work! We are about to have a baby. She has health care. Our Copay and deductible will be a more than 6K. After a month after birth, the company only pays 3 weeks of maternity, the gov only allows 6 weeks for temporary disability at 500 a week. When she comes back to work, we have to pay 100% of her healthcare plan for two months.

[@wussrestbrook1200]

We should really have an option to just pay taxes for a public healthcare option seems cheaper for you

[@corey3788]

Welcome to for profit healthcare in Amerika. Where wall street has a say in your health!

[@ladyeowyn42]

Yeah they punish parents harshly, it’s why we stopped at one.

[@Ruth-os4mi]

Birthrates are dropping worldwide. Everyone is screwed, so what's the problem?

[@steph6109]

Birthdays worldwide were unsustainable. They needed to drop just not this quickly. Women born in the 40s were expected to have children in the double digits, in the west. Women are not made to push out that many children. Even breeding animals aren't pushed that far. That is the number were falling from globally. In the last hundred years the average woman would birth double digits and die young

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

The number one thing that cannoit be criticized in America. CAPITALISM !!! To much '' but...but... muh gommunism '' propaganda in America. This will not be fixed. Having a living wage = Gommunism killed in american logic.

[@Nomad-XA]

F that, I’m poor single with no kids, if I get a wife and kids I’ll be starving working 15 hours a day 7 days a week 😂

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying it can’t continue. If you want to have an economy you have to have a population and if you make it too poor for people to have kids, they won’t unless their exceptional people most people are not this will lead to further declines and birth rates and economic truncation.

[@oldskoolmusicnostalgia]

Exactly that. If you're male in your 20s-30s you're looking at those two extremely appealing propositions: -Solitude but some modicum of control over your finances and work patterns -Marriage where you have to break your back for wife & kids knowing they will never appreciate your effort, will resent your lack of involvement in the home, etc. and you can't afford to lose your job else the whole family breaks down and you feel as though you've failed others. A lot of people are understandably letting themselves getting carried along the path of least resistance, that is the first one.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Costello famously had a slogan to encourage Australians to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country". The Australian Treasure said in 2000.

[@arthurlau98]

Australia should start copying other country practice like SG and Japan whete they pay you to have children.

[@TheGreatOne-gw7xh]

No one cares about Australia.

[@AndrewinAus]

Ahh yes accompanied by the old 'plasma TV' oops I mean Baby Bonus.

[@JayRappa]

Many people like myself question children knowing the world becomes worse by the day. It’s very common to younger people to feel equally discouraged. Great video on a topic little discussed.

[@pattybaselines]

Is it worse, though? People living longer and richer than ever? Better technology than ever? When was a better time? The 1970s with USSR, no internet, no cell phones, much worse medicine? What are your metrics?

[@JayRappa]

@@pattybaselines inflation and asset prices will remain high for decades. Climate change has impacted everything and WW3 is basically inevitable. SO people might be cozy scrolling on their phones in 2024 but its sadly a horrible environment to raise a child

[@pattybaselines]

@@JayRappa How has climate change made your life worse?

[@THX5000]

I am being taxed to death and I live paycheck to paycheck.

[@markschrist]

Yeah.... if you are living pay check to pay check then you are definitely not making enough to be taxed...when you get back more than you put in in the year in a tax rebate.....you received money. Medicare and social security contributions don't count......most likely scenario is you suck with money...

[@108chapin]

He didn't say or imply that.

[@PLF...]

You're probably being taxed too little mate. Taxes are not the problem.

[@THX5000]

@@christopherflanagan9626 I work in the trades. My job is hard, not cushy. Last year, I got up at 3 am every weekday. (Now I sleep in until 4 am) I worked overtime last week and got taxed $400 for one week of pay. The government took 40% of my X-mas bonus which I worked REALLY hard for. I rent a small apartment. I have zero debt and a 825 credit score. I drive a 1998 Toyota with 300,000 miles. I am not exactly living a luxury lifestyle. My life is great, but I have to work 3 months of the year just to pay taxes for which I get nothing in return. No way I can afford a child.

[@S.J.L]

Do you think slaves have responsibility. I do but it's still not easy to unshackle onesself and get off the plantation. Perhaps you love your servitude. The bars fact is that American citizens workn in forced servitude for three months or more just to pay off the plantation. What do we get in return? Government schools indoctrinating children into perversion. No wonder people don't want to mate or can't afford to. ​@@christopherflanagan9626

[@JohnSmith-wp2yu]

I really don't see this as much of a concern.

[@douglassun8456]

If you can use immigration to sustain the overall level of population, you can cope with it. But if you mean, population decline isn't a concern, well, we may all find out the hard way that there are downsides to it.

[@JohnSmith-wp2yu]

@douglassun8456 Technology will take care of it. We'll find a way somehow, and if not, well.....

[@TRYCLOPS1]

When you’re old you will see it when you realize that the babies now will be your care givers. Yea will be hard to find a good one…

[@douglassun8456]

@@JohnSmith-wp2yu You know, I keep hearing people say that. Technology will help with certain types of worker shortages. But robots don't consume. Flippy the robotic fry-cook will not buy food at someone else's restaurant, or go out to the movies, or buy video games. Nor will it buy your house when you want to sell it. That's the problem.

[@skylinefever]

​@@douglassun8456I like how Japan has affordable homes thanks to declining population numbers.

[@beltshazzar243]

I'm quite literally sitting next to my wife in labor. I am shocked that lack of babies being born here, and we live in a populated area.

[@infosuge]

Good luck to you both

[@wussrestbrook1200]

They should give you some kind of award like the Germans used to do no clue if it would help tho

[@infosuge]

@@wussrestbrook1200 subsidise by the state and @@wussrestbrook12003yo and you have free childcare from 2yo. Germans still at it

[@thomaskreke4635]

Watching economics KZbin while your wife is in labor? Impressive.

[@Bladeoceanic]

When my daughter was born in 10 years ago there were zero other babies in the maternity ward for that day & a half.

[@cigdemylmaz1532]

I work in Manhattan at a well known university as a full time lecturer ( have a PhD in STEM) for 70K a year. I could not afford to rent a studio in Queens AND pay bills and eat, if I were single. Billion dollar corporations (including universities) have squeezed so much out of the worker in the last two decades (full DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOMINANCE IN ESTABLISHMENT ) that, no wonder we are facing the consequences.

[@FuImaDragon]

I have to work too much and that really puts a limit on meeting people.

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

Sounds like modern slavery.

[@kiararios3271]

As a woman, i do not want to ever be a mother, and i see there is an increase of women who refuse to have kids.

[@Clintsessentials]

And men are refusing as well.

[@kiararios3271]

@@Clintsessentials That's true. More men are refusing to ever be a father.

[@raymondk6721]

​@@kiararios3271hello can you explain

[@raymondk6721]

​@@Clintsessentialshata Kara ma solut mebang hahahaha

[@tatakae1981]

If the economy is not family-friendly, then you get few to no families. If government/economic policies favor the elderly at the expense of the young, then you get few to no new kids. If marriages can be destroyed by no-fault divorce, you get few to no marriages. If false sa allegations can be sling at guys for daring to say hello at women while not being billionaire chads, then men are not going to approach women at all. Seems simple enough to me.

[@robbiep742]

Financially incentivize child birth and offer better parental leave/support?

[@thomasprice7893]

That would promote white reproduction and so is a verboten policy in the West.

[@alucardwhitehair]

This doesn’t work, many countries have tried.

[@ericvincentofinowicz5610]

Doesn't work in countries that tried that, and that's on top of more welfare provided by govt (Europe).

[@HankSemoreButz]

It does work…

[@MrBobinski1]

We would of had more kids. We didn't from merely a economic prospective. I got 2 right now and daycare runs about $1,400 a month. And that's considered cheap. We are broke now because of having children.

[@laaaliiiluuu]

We work and work and work for the billionaire class to become wealthier and our own lives more expensive. How surprising nobody wants kids anymore?

[@skylinefever]

Why would I want to feed the system cannon fodder?

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

That is the only difference between the 1950s and today. They agreed is what destroyed the system and is destroying it. We need to use tax money to get people to have kids. Give money out per kid and if someone has 10 or 12 help them have 10 or 12 if someone has none those 10 or 12 will be paying taxes and working to produce the products and services that retirees need. You can only body and brain drain the rest of the world for a couple generations until the population sink eats them as well

[@DesertSessions93]

I went to college and took on a massive amount of debt to do so. How am I going to raise kids on debt? I WANTED a family. My parents WANTED me to go to college. Now I have debt and zero reason to continue living. My life is meaningless and I get to remember that every day while I pay off the debt for something I never wanted.

[@gregorypellerin1]

My daycare bill for one child is 1750$/mo

[@flybrand]

Daycare in the US is amazingly expensive.

[@psychohist]

It ought to be tax deductible.

[@jackeagleeye3453]

The other problem with daycare is the workers are getting paid like $13 an hour. Which beg the question, where is the money actually going to?

[@matthewpulizos3444]

@@jackeagleeye3453the rent, toys, gas, water, food, electric, insurance,just to name a few, you know all the thing that have gone up at least 25% in the last 4 years. lol do people think you don’t have to pay expenses while running a business?

[@adamjones9180]

You all make good points. If utilities, rent, and food are too expensive then business want to charge more. But those same expenses are incurred by your workers in their homes. So you can't hire and retain workers for what they are paying. At the same time, if you have two kids in daycare and your shelling out just under 48k a year in costs, unless you have a very good job, you are better off becoming a stay at home parent for a few years. And most families can't afford to do that either.

[@adamgroszkiewicz814]

And yet it still feels crowded AF and housing is still too expensive for kids today to hope to own a home before age 40.

[@danieparriott265]

"Kids today" need to stop examining their feelings and start examining their income and expenditures.

[@whickervision742]

​@@danieparriott265old farts these days need some compassion.

[@danieparriott265]

@@whickervision742 Do you believe it is "compassionate" to let a fool continue in his folly, and continue to support his foolishness? Especially when you know it's going to ruin him? And then he compounds it by commiserating with his fellows until they all reinforce the belief to the point that they really truly believe that "the system" is out to get them and someone must save them. They mist grow up and be responsible for themselves. Telling them the hard truths in life is being compassionate and helpful.

[@GiftigeBalspuwer]

40 years of Reaganomics and this is the result. Nature striking back 💪

[@cfc1001001cfc]

The problem is that it is in the immediate self-interest of each person for someone ELSE to have and raise kids. We've run out of ELSEs.

[@FutureCommentary1]

Immigrants. Especially from Africa where lots of kids is still popular. But then you don't want them.

[@psychohist]

I found that having 3 kids was in the self interest of myself and my wife because we find kids to be such a joy. The issue for us is that Federal tax policy is really stacked against having kids for people with reasonable jobs.

[@TomTomicMic]

​​@@FutureCommentary1 We do not want mass immigration in the West, we want numbers that we can usefully absorb of our choosing, not of the immigrants choosing, we are independent countries for a reason, we don't want other countries basket cases, a recent report in the UK is that illegal immigrants in particular do not add to the workforce and are a burden!?!

[@sirsurnamethefirstofhisnam7986]

@@FutureCommentary1how are people who have only just learnt how to read supposed to be the future of developed economies relying on highly skilled labour in technical fields

[@TanyaLairdCivil]

Or ask yourself, "what would a society look like whose civilization had run up hard against the limits of its environment?" Wouldn't it look very much like our problems today? We have 8 billion people on this planet, and every one of them is doing their damndest to live a resource-intensive first world lifestyle. In a capitalist system, resource scarcity is moderated by prices. When your population grows to the point where you're running headfirst against hard environmental limits...the cost of everything soars. Infinite growth on a finite planet is unsustainable; and those things that are unsustainable will not be sustained.

[@MichaelJCaboose013]

1400/mo for daycare here, on top of 1800 rent. That's 2 paychecks there. No way we could afford to double the daycare cost and still save up in case of emergency

[@danieparriott265]

Then math says one of the paychecks should be cancelled out by one parent staying home, eliminating daycare. Work from home, nights or weekends, maybe. Also, if where you live $1400 is considered a full time paycheck while rent and daycare are that expensive, you ought to move somewhere where cost of living is more in line with wages.

[@jeanlamb5026]

@@danieparriott265 Yes, of course. Women should stop having any kind of ambition and be happy to be stuck at home with kids. I suggest you've never tried it. Or move to a red state where 12 year olds are forced to have kids.

[@infosuge]

Sacrifices. But you will make it work trust me. PS you will never have enough money even if you don’t have kids.

[@jeanlamb5026]

@@infosuge You will never have enough money if you die in childbirth, either.

[@stephencullum8255]

Today in Orlando Fla, high 98 degrees. That patchy snow looks good.

[@Tirelesswarrior]

I bet you feel like rolling in it.😅😅😅😅

[@larrycox7169]

When it takes two incomes to survive, kids become a very expensive luxury. The 21 year burden and commitment is a mountain few want to climb.

[@mtngrl5859]

It doesn't end at 21, believe me. Kids aren't moving out. All of my friends have their kids staying at home well into their mid-20's & then they bring their GF &BF in as well.

[@larrycox7169]

@mtngrl5859 I'm a bit older and didn't allow that. But, I've had 4 of 6 return for short periods. Divorces, job loss etc. In today's world, in my opinion, it's very difficult to get they out on their own. It's cultural, not just financial. Good luck all.

[@jimmyg7757]

It is unreasonably expensive to have kids.

[@carepackageman]

Almost like destroying incomes such that people cant afford homes is starting to catch up to capitalism!

[@RenegadeRanga]

No, it is communism.

[@stormsandfishing5448]

It’s the same here in Australia - anyone paying rent or a mortgage needs two decent incomes. Every year the cost of insurance, groceries, electricity, council rates goes up more than wages…… one child and done for my wife and I. The current crop of 20 somethings have it even worse and I don’t blame them if relationships and children are off the table.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

There is no reason that this should be the case other than the fact that the rich have been ripping everyone off. There’s no other explanation for it. A guy in the US in the 1950s could support two kids a wife and a mortgage with no education working at a gas station pumping gas. Granted we were building Europe again nevertheless women were not in the workforce and that is a key. They were home raising good kids, and you limited the amount of labor that capitalism could take advantage of thus the cost of that labor was higher not great for profits for the capitalist that I’ve gone through the roof since women started working and mass immigration , but nothing comes without its high profitability today means no economy because most people will not be poor in order to have kids. Some will, but most will not, and you will not have an economy. You cannot be brain and body drain the rest of the world forever ism is a sink in communism is a good way to get killed by your government since they are responsible for murdering and starving over 100 million people in the last hundred years. I never attack capitalism without pointing this little fact about communism out a little Scandinavian socialism I don’t think would be so hurtful as some would like you to believe.

[@ThaidUp]

I am all for global population reducing to 1980 levels of 4B people. The best program to reduce CO2 emissions and expending the earth resources. We should be celebrating this trend

[@annas4191]

me too

[@lapprentice]

My buddy from Connecticut says that he just got a twin and found out that childcare cost is around $1,600 per child in his area. That is $3,200 in total just.for him and his wife to go to work. After a long consideration, he and his wife decided that his wife would quit the job and stay home taking care of the kids. And they would have to relocate to stay near his parents for support. The burden of our society putting on having children is #1 factor of less children being around.

[@olivur_1459]

⬆His ⬆ buddy from Connecticut says that he just got a twin and found out that childcare cost is around $1,600 per child in his area. That is $3,200 in total just.for him and his wife to go to work. After a long consideration, he and his wife decided that his wife would quit the job and stay home taking care of the kids. And they would have to relocate to stay near his parents for support. The burden of our society putting on having children is #1 factor of less children being around.

[@picadosinferno]

I'm 38 and kinda well off in the sense that I could probably retire now and live a very frugal life, so for men like myself, adding a woman and government to your life mix is a no no, so expect this to go even lower.

[@CakesWarden]

Why not? Falling in love is based

[@ericjames7819]

​@@CakesWarden You can fall in love without playing marriage Russian roulette.

[@GyMntg]

This is the way.

[@CJ-re7bx]

​@@GyMntg "This is the way"? Get off the Internet, nerd. Get a life.

[@CJ-re7bx]

Idk why the OP is acting like this is a good thing. I hope you are planning for less economic growth for your financial assets, as well as less social safety nets.

[@cynthiawilliams5508]

The problem is very simple, but (largely male) governments will not acknowledge it: bearing and raising children is a full time job. Yet couples now need two incomes to just survive. You either have to pay workers much much more so that one person can afford to stay home, or pay one parent a full time salary to have/raise a child. No other strategy will succeed.

[@SeanEustace-zk3mc]

You’re absolutely correct. You should have the government pay people to have kids. This will get women to stay home if they want to and decrease the amount of workers in the workforce. You should also put a moratorium on immigration immediately this will stabilize housing prices.

[@11rs11]

Yes! I'm a stay at home Mom for close to 4 years now. I stay home because we can't afford daycare, and if I worked, 2/3 of my monthly pay would go towards childcare. Unfortunately, this has put a huge strain on our finances, and truthfully, our marriage as well☹️

[@jellyfrosh9102]

Women entering the work force is a CAUSE not an effect. You didn't need to be a two income household to afford things in 1970 when women were mostly not in the work force. Putting women in the workforce doubled the labor pool, IE increased the supply of labor. Basic economics 101: supply and demand. If there is more supply and the demand is the same the supply gets cheaper. Kick women out of the workforce and close the border which will massively shrink the labor pool and like magic, wages will go up. Because the supply will go down and the demand will be the same. Every society in history that put women equal to men has collapsed for reasons like this. Every single one.

[@ladyeowyn42]

Nah kick the men out of the workforce, women are better educated.

[@porkyrabbit]

The wolves are upset the sheep won’t reproduce

[@RenegadeRanga]

No they are not. Read UN agenda 21

[@joemcbride3564]

...as screwed up as this country is right now I would NOT want to bring any kids into it...

[@danieparriott265]

It's been far worse before. But end your line if you wish.

[@JayZs-Nostrils]

​@@danieparriott265"End your line" lolol 99% of people are not royality or anyone important. Our bloodline is common peasants, we arent Elon Musk

[@RepentImmediately]

​@@danieparriott265it's always the most mediocre people talking about bloodlines 😂

[@danieparriott265]

@@JayZs-Nostrils If you were raised right, in a decent family, you are important to them. If you are a productive person, you are important to your employer and customers, and those that depend on your productivity. Also, "Royalty" are irrelevant (or should be) in the modern world. They are generally ill behaved, overly expensive anachronistic , useless figureheads, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone cares about them at all. If you wish to be common, that's OK, but don't blame it on your bloodline. "Average" is a low bar, and if everyone settles for that, then the average drops (Math).

[@danieparriott265]

@@RepentImmediately In my fam, we don't talk, we DO ..... and then we talk smack, because .... "Scoreboard" ...

[@cheaplaughkennedy2318]

Currency is hyper inflating, purchasing power through the floor

[@kangaroo2191]

I'm in my early 20s, and not planning to start having kids until 35. Once I reach that age, I might even decide not to have kids. In my small friend group of 8 women, 5 are choosing never to have children, 2 want children in the future, and only 1 has a set of twins. She done having kids. Watching her and her husband struggle to raise twins in this economy has made me contemplate having children at all. I think I'm happy just being an aunt.