U.S. Births Dip To 30-Year Low;

[superpunch]

Im implying that it looks far easier than it actually is.

If i were to give an analogy, it would be like when we were kids and we hated school and we thought being grown ups was going to be so easy because nobody would tell you that you cant eat cookies before dinner and you would have money to buy all the candy and videogames in the world.

And then you grow up and work long ass weeks, and you still cant eat cookies before dinner because you need to watch your weight since you arent a calorie burning machine like you used to when growing up.

Same goes for all the candy in the world, now you need to see how calories they have and how much effort it is to burn them and then lay them down. And the videogames? sure your steam library has 200 games when as a kid you were lucky to have 3, but you havent played 20% of them.

Yup, we were blessed as kids and we didnt knew it, and the same happens with kids.

Universal basic income bro. Get a shithole apartment and you can play video games 24/7/365 for the rest of your life. It's my life goal.

 

[Literally Bricked]

It probably has less to do with feminism, and more to do with income inequality. Millennials make less and have to pay a shit ton more for education/basic living. Who wants to have kids just to be super poor?

I disagree with the idea it has anything to do with income inequality but rather booms related to the Baby Boomers. When those baby boomers all grew up and had kids, there is a boom there. Thirty years later those people are just deciding not to have kids because of priorities and responsibility levels have changed.

People care more about getting the newest pair of Dre headphones or Gucci belts than establishing a career, getting married, buying a home and having kids. They’d rather get Instagram likes or Snapchat followers by posting them on their most recent trip to Mexico than their home.

 

[berimBOWLoh]

its funny to think immigrants is the answer because after a generation or two their birthrates go to the same as any other citizen. Their kids get better educated and realize its too expensive to have kids so they dont.


instead of immigrants being the answer the government needs ot better incentives to have kids. Tax breaks, mortage relief etc etc Can use the money spent to bring in immigrants on that. If i were a Trumpster i'd be all about that on the re-election campaign.

 

[cincymma79]

It's why the hand wringing about declining birth rates is so absurd from others. If we need fewer people then declining birth rates is actually a good thing.

The Catholic Church has a hand in that as far as Africa goes at least and probably South America

 

[Rod1]

Universal basic income bro. Get a shithole apartment and you can play video games 24/7/365 for the rest of your life. It's my life goal.

My life goal is to be connected to the Matrix.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

What's the financial stability like in Zimbabwe? Why is their birth rate so high? Because they don't use protection or have abortions.

We live in the richest, most powerful country in history. We just like to drink, party, travel, and be cool and shit, so our generation uses lots of condoms and abortions. But we also like to blame our own problems on other people, so we blame our parents.

You're not making a coherent point here. More affluent people are less likely to engage in risky behavior such as unprotected permiscuous sex leading to unexpected pregnancies. You're making it sound like being careful and not making unwanted kids is a bad thing. And regardless of how rich our country is, things are offset by how expensive it is to live here.

 

[jrams]

I would think so but the poster was suggesting that the investment was not worthwhile.

Huh? I said people with kids don't give any good reasons (and lots of bad reasons) for having kids such as their life revolving entirely around the kids. I gave an example of someone who's life completely changed and now revolves entirely around his kids and, without knowing him, you and other posters have decided to play arm chair psychologist for him.

The clairvoyance is impressive.

 

[Makani]

Kids are fricking expensive, and the odds are stacked against you more every day that they'll just be miserable debt-ridden office drone at best, and a opiod addicted scumbag at worst. I honestly wonder sometimes about the odds of my child starving to death at some point if I had him today. The world is a scary place, especially projected 50 years down the road.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Huh? I said people with kids don't give any good reasons (and lots of bad reasons) for having kids such as their life revolving entirely around the kids. I gave an example of someone who's life completely changed and now revolves entirely around his kids and, without knowing him, you and other posters have decided to play arm chair psychologist for him.

The clairvoyance is impressive.

Has he complained about it to you or are you assuming he's worse off because he doesn't bike anymore?

 

[jrams]

Has he complained about it to you or are you assuming he's worse off because he doesn't bike anymore?

He's lamented that he doesn't have the time to do things like that anymore.

 

[Judge]

What the heck are we going to do when social security collapses? This started in the 1970s. We need to undo this before it is to late and it might already be. Are society is not sustainable right now.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ar-low-sending-fertility-rate-to-a-record-low

The birthrate fell for nearly every group of women of reproductive age in the U.S. in 2017, reflecting a sharp drop that saw the fewest newborns since 1987, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 3,853,472 births in the U.S. in 2017 — "down 2 percent from 2016 and the lowest number in 30 years," the CDC said.

The general fertility rate sank to a record low of 60.2 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 — a 3 percent drop from 2016, the CDC said in its tally of provisional data for the year.

The results put the U.S. further away from a viable replacement rate – the standard for a generation being able to replicate its numbers.

"The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971," according to the report from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

The CDC calculates a "total fertility rate" by estimating how many babies a hypothetical group of 1,000 women would likely have over their lifetime. That measure now stands at 1,764.5 births per 1,000 women — a 3 percent drop from 2016. The replacement rate is 2,100 births per 1,000 women.

"The decline in the rate from 2016 to 2017 was the largest single-year decline since 2010," the CDC said.

The 2017 numbers also represent a 10-year fall from 2007, when the U.S. finally broke its post-World War baby boom record, with more than 4.3 million births.

Historically, the number of babies born in the U.S. has gradually risen since a sharp decline in the early 1970s. But that growth has been inconsistent, and over the same time frame, the birthrate has shown a general decline. The numbers are often subject to spikes and sudden dips, driven in large part by the country's economy, generational size and other factors.

Ready to do my part, sir!!!

 

[Devout Pessimist]

It probably has less to do with feminism, and more to do with income inequality. Millennials make less and have to pay a shit ton more for education/basic living. Who wants to have kids just to be super poor?

Poor people all around the world are pumping out kids like a queen ant laying eggs. Why isn't income inequity stopping them?

 

[BlacknBlue]

... By not going to college. 60% of kids go to college. That's stupid. It was like 10% 50 years ago.

We live in the richest and most powerful country in history but ohhh my gawd our generation has it so hard, that's why none of us have kids and I live with my parents!11 lolll thats so bullshit.

We just like to drink, party, go to concerts, travel, etc. and you can't do that if you have kids. So our generation uses protection and has abortions. But that's self-deprecating so we blame it on our poor so terrible richest country of all time living conditions.

This is pretty much accurate right here. When you boil it down, pretty much every reason to (purposely) not have kids comes down to, "It's too hard". If you say it is difficult, but very rewarding and worth it...you have already lost them at difficult.

It is my generation too, and it is fine. I have no problem with people avoiding kids because its difficult, and even appreciate it on a number of levels. The only "War Room"y thing I will say, is that this is simply Darwinism at its most basic level. Those who can successfully adapt to their environment will pass on their genes to the next generation. Those who can't will see their bloodline go extinct. It seems cold and heartless, but that is Darwinism for ya.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Poor people all around the world are pumping out kids like a queen ant laying eggs. Why isn't income inequity stopping them?

Because they are dirt poor so their reproduction strategy is to pump out a lot of kids. In America the middle class doesn't have kids with the expectation that they will die so when they do decide to have kids they do so with the intention to invest as much in each child. Childcare costs would thus affect their decisions to have a child in a way it wouldn't for the absolute poor in developing countries

That said, I don't buy the argument that its economic inequality driving the low birth rates. You see similarly low, in some cases even lower, birth rates in Western and Northern Europe which is less unequal than the US.

 

[Darwinambrosius]

I have a great career, a nice home, a nice car, a few dogs, and I take expensive vacations a few times a year. I genuinely do whatever the fuck I feel like within the boundaries of the law.

The thought of a child changing all this terrifies me. Political shit is a non-issue for me; I'm just selfish.

 

[all caps]

@alanb got @Executed in this thread

 

[Goonerview]

What's the financial stability like in Zimbabwe? Why is their birth rate so high? Because they don't use protection or have abortions.

We live in the richest, most powerful country in history. We just like to drink, party, travel, and be cool and shit, so our generation uses lots of condoms and abortions. But we also like to blame our own problems on other people, so we blame our parents.

We have generations of children born into debt.

 

[Steven_Universe]

I have a great career, a nice home, a nice car, a few dogs, and I take expensive vacations a few times a year. I genuinely do whatever the fuck I feel like within the boundaries of the law.

The thought of a child changing all this terrifies me. Political shit is a non-issue for me; I'm just selfish.

Are you married or live with a woman?

If so I support your ideals.

If not that’s kind of insane.

 

[Darwinambrosius]

Are you married or live with a woman?

If so I support your ideals.

If not that’s kind of insane.

Not married, live alone, but I have a girlfriend. She's a NP with a dog, and we have virtually identifical views on these matters. We're going to Nassau next month too.

 

[Steven_Universe]

Not married, live alone, but I have a girlfriend. She's a NP with a dog, and we have virtually identifical views on these matters. We're going to Nassau next month too.

I’m glad you have someone special. I have a girlfriend but it’s not super serious and I have an 8 year old boy who lives with me from a previous relationship. Do you eventually want to live together at least or have children or do you want to live alone when you’re 60 or 70?