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nitpicker

(7,153 posts)
Wed May 15, 2019, 07:41 AM May 2019

The American baby bust

https://www.axios.com/fertility-rate-births-us-baby-bust-03c85100-806e-4e66-9daa-f3fd69072dce.html

The American baby bust

The U.S. fertility rate has reached a record-low, and the total number of births in 2018 was the lowest it has been in more than 30 years, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control.
(snip)

By the numbers: While birth rates fell for younger women in 2018, they rose slightly for women in their late 30s and early 40s, according to the newest CDC data. Women waiting longer to start their families has been a growing, global trend.
•The total fertility rate, the number of babies a woman of childbearing age is expected to have over her lifetime, is currently at 1.72 — 2% lower than in 2017. It's also notably below the 2.1 fertility rate required for one generation to perfectly replace the next.

Between the lines: The U.S.'s high levels of immigration have helped buoy the population. It's a key reason the U.S. is in a better place than other nations with falling fertility rates that are beginning to see the impact on their societies and economies, such as Japan, Hungary or Spain.
•But immigration might not always be enough to fully compensate for low fertility rates, Global Aging Institute President Richard Jackson and sociology professor Irene Bloemraad from University of California Berkeley told Axios last year.
(snip)
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The American baby bust (Original Post) nitpicker May 2019 OP
I think having a baby in this day and age... Dave Starsky May 2019 #1
Zactly. Duppers May 2019 #3
As a parent of young children I am very disappointed to see this Amishman May 2019 #5
The problem is the fact that the 1%ers and Corporate avebury May 2019 #20
You really should rethink what you just wrote SlogginThroughIt May 2019 #6
Sorry you were offended. But that's how I feel. Dave Starsky May 2019 #8
aand thats fine just don't call other parents abusers SlogginThroughIt May 2019 #12
. WhiskeyGrinder May 2019 #11
Earth cannot support the humans that are here. CousinIT May 2019 #2
BINGO Throck May 2019 #9
Most especially the affluent humans. hunter May 2019 #18
We are doing our part Kilgore May 2019 #4
Child care is more expensive than a mortgage. People cannot afford to have/raise children. LonePirate May 2019 #7
Births are declining everywhere. PoindexterOglethorpe May 2019 #10
It's been a relatively short period of time SoCalDem May 2019 #13
You are so right about the workforce not being child-friendly. PoindexterOglethorpe May 2019 #14
I would have ended up with about $80 a month SoCalDem May 2019 #15
And that eighty bucks, even back then, would not have PoindexterOglethorpe May 2019 #16
Olathe.. SoCalDem May 2019 #17
My wife worked and I stayed home, or I worked when she was at home. hunter May 2019 #19

Amishman

(5,541 posts)
5. As a parent of young children I am very disappointed to see this
Wed May 15, 2019, 09:11 AM
May 2019

Yes, our children will face challenges but also see wonders. Technology is uplifting our species.

We have real potential to build a better world where the people are freed from the need for menial labor and able to pursue their dreams with fewer impediments than any generation before them.

30 years ago who could have anticipated achieving marriage equality or a president of color? We are serious discussion in politics of universal health care and basic income.

Look beyond the nasty little orange cloud blotting out the sun right now and see all the blue sky across the rest of the heavens.

avebury

(10,946 posts)
20. The problem is the fact that the 1%ers and Corporate
Wed May 15, 2019, 06:06 PM
May 2019

Overlords have no desire to share anything with the masses. They want cheap, 21st Century version of slave labor. I am one of those who think that it is crazy for people to have children at this point in history. Mankind either can’t or won’t take care of the people who already exist and the Rethugs want to explode the white population growth rate because they can’t stand the movement of whites into minority status.

 

SlogginThroughIt

(1,977 posts)
6. You really should rethink what you just wrote
Wed May 15, 2019, 09:16 AM
May 2019

You are basically calling all people with young children child abusers. I was offended when I read what you wrote and I am not one that is easily offended. My wife and I are raising the wonderful caring children that are going to be needed if we want to have a future that has wonderful caring people.

It’s fine for you to have your own convictions about what you want to do with your life but calling others abusers that are not making the same choice is not ok.

Dave Starsky

(5,914 posts)
8. Sorry you were offended. But that's how I feel.
Wed May 15, 2019, 09:26 AM
May 2019

Just put me on ignore. It certainly won't hurt my feelings.

I would choose to NOT bring innocent children into a world that is becoming progressively more awful and unlivable, that may not even be inhabitable within a few decades.

I'm sure our parents had high hopes for us. Yet, here we are.

 

SlogginThroughIt

(1,977 posts)
12. aand thats fine just don't call other parents abusers
Wed May 15, 2019, 11:24 AM
May 2019

aand thats fine just don’t call other parents child abusers.

Putting someone on ignore doesn’t further any discussion and is equal in my view to the idea that not having and raising good children into good people is somehow going to change the current situation.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
18. Most especially the affluent humans.
Wed May 15, 2019, 05:05 PM
May 2019

If you own a car you are part of the problem.

Etc.

Yes, I own a car. I'm a hypocrite. In my defense my wife and I, by some planning and greater good fortune, have avoided the car commuter lifestyle since the later 'eighties. When we met we were spending an hour or two in stop-and-go freeway traffic every work day. I resent the loss of every minute of my life I've wasted burning gasoline driving to and from work.

I've also reproduced, and my children are affluent adults.

My wife and I raised them to be adaptable and compassionate. Even in a world gone Mad Max I trust they'll stand with the humanists.

The earth can support the current human population, but not a big automobile, big chunks of meat on the dinner table daily, and a big house in the suburbs for all.

We ought to be paying people to experiment with lifestyles having a very small environmental footprint, and measuring their success by happiness, not money.

These successful lifestyles ought to be encouraged.

Kilgore

(1,733 posts)
4. We are doing our part
Wed May 15, 2019, 09:03 AM
May 2019

Between our three daughters, we have twelve grandkids.

Noisy but joyful holidays around our house!!!

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
10. Births are declining everywhere.
Wed May 15, 2019, 09:57 AM
May 2019

Most developed countries' birth rates are below, some well below replacement rate.

I'm currently reading Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson, which states that by the middle or end of this century births will be declining world wide, leading to world population decline. I don't think they foresee a complete population collapse with humans going extinct just for lack of babies, but that the decline is real.

There really are too many people on this planet. People may disagree about just how many the planet can sustain long term, but if numbers don't come down, humans will wind up killing off themselves and much life here. Perhaps, in the distant future, if some new intelligent species evolves, it will be sufficiently different as to not do the same terrible things we've done.

SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
13. It's been a relatively short period of time
Wed May 15, 2019, 01:05 PM
May 2019

since reliable birth control has been available to women. Before that, births were a natural result of being an adult. It was not uncommon for women (even educated women) to have 4 or 5 kids.
Considering the cost of housing and the wacky schedules that people work , even people who WANT kids sometimes cannot have as many as they would like.

Costs are a major cause too. If you are a responsible person, but you have 40K in college debt, it's gonna take you a LONG time to pay enough down to be in a place where you can afford a child (and the loss of a job?) By the time you are ready, fertility may be an issue . My youngest and his wife married after they were 35, and they were unsuccessful at pregnancy, so they are childless and are satisfied with being Aunt & Uncle..They would have been super parents, but it was not to be

The US workforce is not child-friendly. I had 3 boys within 5 years and even though I wanted to work when they were younger, daycare would have eaten up most of what I made, so I stayed home until they were all in school all day.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
14. You are so right about the workforce not being child-friendly.
Wed May 15, 2019, 01:12 PM
May 2019

That's the main reason I stayed home with our two sons. Between the workplace assumption that there is a stay-at-home person (spouse, nanny, whatever) and the cost of any kind of child care, and my not having a career to maintain, it made the most sense.

I recall being at a company picnic probably around 1992, and a wife who was pregnant with their third child (was going to be not much more than a year after number 2) complaining that once this baby was born the cost of day care was going to be more than she earned. When I suggest she consider staying home for a few years, she stared at me as if I were speaking Martian. I honestly don't know what eventually happened, if she did stay home or returned to work with the huge financial penalty that involved.

SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
15. I would have ended up with about $80 a month
Wed May 15, 2019, 01:16 PM
May 2019

after daycare.. I was a travel consultant, and had two job offers, but the "travel perks" did not interest me and the pay was relatively low, so it was a no go.

Plus, we lived in Kansas, so winters are pretty harsh. The thought of waking up sleeping babies and dragging them out into the early morning cold, was not very appealing..My kids were born in 73,77 & 78.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
16. And that eighty bucks, even back then, would not have
Wed May 15, 2019, 02:05 PM
May 2019

covered the other additional costs of your working.

Where in Kansas did you live?

I lived in Overland Park from 1990-2008.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
19. My wife worked and I stayed home, or I worked when she was at home.
Wed May 15, 2019, 05:27 PM
May 2019

We never had daycare and my wife's work was generally family friendly, enough so that I could drop by most of the time so she could breastfeed a hungry baby.

It ought to be like that for everyone.

I won't claim it was easy, especially when I was working nights and weekends, it was an exercise in sleep deprivation, but parenthood always is, unless you are so wealthy you can farm the job out to nannies and boarding schools. We were frequently struggling to pay overdue $40 utility bills when our children were young.

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