Elon Musk is known for bemoaning the declining birthrate. He’s doing his part to remedy that situation, having fathered eleven children himself. But, as usual, he’s not fitting in with the other billionaires who are very interested in ways to reduce birthrates.
The other billionaires aren’t so keen on babymaking.
Most of the billionaire class seems convinced with a religious fervor that overpopulation is responsible for the world’s ills, especially climate change. Britain’s Prince Philip is famous for saying, in 2009, that when he died, he wanted to come back reincarnated as a virus, to solve the overpopulation problem. King Charles has spoken out about problems related to overpopulation since the 1970s. Prince William recently gave a speech about Africa, particularly, having an unsustainable birth rate/
The British royal family is not alone. In Bill Gates’ Innovating to Zero TED Talk in 2010, he expressed hope in reducing population by “10 to 15%” to meet climate goals.
The Rockefellers, in particular, have been involved in population control schemes since the 1950s. Assisted by hefty donations from groups like the Ford Foundation, they have been funding various projects to restrict the births of low-income people around the world.
It’s been easy, for a long time, to dismiss concerns about worldwide eugenics programs as conspiracy theory. Groups like the Rockefeller Foundation are good at framing their projects as nothing more than educational programs, which the general population has seen as something positive. Most women don’t want eight or ten kids (I never did), and see birth control education programs as a necessary counter to that.
It isn’t just the Communists who want to interfere with or reduce birthrates.
Westerners more often associate draconian population reduction measures with communist regimes, thanks to China’s well-known One Child Policy. While China imposed harsh financial penalties, along with such barbaric practices as forced abortions, forced sterilization, and infanticide, communist Romania went in the opposite direction, making family planning nearly impossible.
In 1966, Nicolae Ceausescu banned abortion and all forms of birth control for women under 40 with fewer than four children. This led to an out-of-control population increase, and because Romania was so poor, parents regularly abandoned their children to state-run orphanages, which became notorious for cruelty, disease, and neglect. Daisy wrote of this in her article about Communism in Romania.
Totalitarian leaders are obsessed with all kinds of control, whether forbidding children or forcing them upon the population.
Communists are not the only totalitarians out there. India has never been a communist country, but they, also, have been subjected to aggressive population control measures. In fact, India was the first nation to launch a government-sponsored family planning program in 1952.
These are not just educational campaigns.
The mainstream press treats these population control drives as nothing more than educational campaigns, but they are much more coercive. In 1975 alone, 6.2 million Indian men were forcibly sterilized. India has been under so much financial pressure from groups like the World Bank and the United Nations Population Fund to limit family size that surgeries are often performed very haphazardly. More than 700 women died as a result of botched tubal ligations between 2009 and 2012.
These programs are not just about birth control and giving parents better tools to plan their families; they’re about totally changing sets of values.
The pressure to limit family size is not only overseas.
It’s in America, too, and it’s getting harder to ignore. When I drive into the big city nearest to me, I see “Stop Having Kids” billboards all over the place.
Stop Having Kids is the force behind billboards across major cities. Perusing their website, they state that, “We believe there are no reasons for having children that aren’t selfish (besides through force) and that having children is unethical and irrational—despite the fact that birth is a natural process.”
The entire website, while falsely cheery and pseudo-inspirational, is at its core so hopeless, so negative, so depressing one wonders if the founder was ever held as a child.
As heartily as I might disagree with the Stop Having Kids movement, we do have a First Amendment, and freedom of speech means other people are allowed to say things I disagree with. I find the billboards depressing. They shouldn’t be illegal.
What should be scrutinized is the way financial standards are changing to severely penalize families with more than one child.
Anyone filling out FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) forms is probably aware that the process has gone through a total overhaul. And the new FAFSA rules penalize families with more than one child. Under the old rules, FAFSA calculated a family’s ability to pay based on how many family members were attending college. This seems intuitively obvious. Putting two kids through college costs twice as much as one.
But they no longer look at that. All they look at is family income. One kid, four kids—it doesn’t matter to FAFSA! They expect the same amount of money to suffice.
Is this the same as a forced sterilization campaign like the ones in China and India? No. But it is coercion. Restricting access to the loans most families find necessary for college means shutting off access to a wide set of career options.
This isn’t the only way American parents are penalized.
Unfortunately, college is hardly the only place in which parents are finding they have to fork over ever-increasing sums of money.
Over the past fifteen years, more people have switched to high-deductible healthcare plans because the monthly payments are lower. However, your out-of-pocket payments are quite a bit higher if you ever do need treatment and this rise in high-deductible healthcare plans means that families pay far more for childbirth. Between 2008 and 2015, a large study found that out-of-pocket spending for maternity care rose from an average of $3069 to $4569, even though the hospital charges didn’t change.
This study involved over 650,000 women, and it actually represented a picture slightly better than average. It involved women with insurance plans from large companies, which have more generous options than the ones offered by small companies or available to purchase individually.
So, if shelling out $4500 out of pocket for childbirth is not the worst option, what can people who work for small businesses or have to purchase their own insurance expect?
Well, there are insurance plans that expect you to pay $7000 or $8000 out of pocket. This is still preferable to having no insurance since C-sections cost well over $20,000. But in a country where the average household income is about $75,000 per year, this represents a huge percentage of household money.
And I think it’s going up. I had a good friend tell me that his insurance company, for 2024, will switch to a fixed $10,000 flat out-of-pocket fee for each childbirth. This is not someone working on Wall Street; this is a company in the South that employs middle-class workers. Asking around, he found that this was typical for young adults in his area.
It’s hard to find precise data about this online, but if any readers have heard about sharp increases like this, I would love to hear about it.
Now, of course, these expenses all apply to people with private insurance. If the household is on Medicaid, those expenses go away.
This is not about judging families on Medicaid. I know that there are plenty of hardworking people who use it because private insurance is ridiculous. I merely want to point out, why are maternity expenses almost totally covered for one group of people but not another?
Personal decisions are being quietly taken away.
Who remembers, back in 2012, when Obama said, “If you’ve got a business– you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
When we put a large percentage of the population in a position where they need government support to have a family, might not part of that impetus be to demoralize parents, to make them feel like they can only have a family because the government allows them to?
Only two generations ago, having a family was something most people chose, regardless of religious affiliation. Children are hilarious when they’re little and a support in old age. New babies are the ultimate symbol of hopefulness for the future.
I’m not telling anyone to have kids or not to have kids. That’s a personal decision that should be made by each couple based on their own goals and emotional capabilities. But I resent the restrictions that make no logical sense, like the FAFSA revisions, other than to discourage families from having more than one child.
Celebrating birth and renewal is part of cultures all over the world. Many people celebrate the birth of one particular baby this time of year. What does it say when we are asked to ignore that very natural impulse?
What are your thoughts? Do you feel that there is pressure to reduce birthrates here in America? Do you have other examples you can share? Do you think that is a good thing or a bad thing?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
About Marie Hawthorne
A lover of novels and cultivator of superb apple pie recipes, Marie spends her free time writing about the world around her.
What we have is a culture of death taking over.
A culture of death would include starvation and disease caused by want and overcrowding.
It’s rich that Prince Phillip wanted to control the population and himself had 4 children (that we know of). Also Prince William has spoken out against birthdates and has 3 kids. I guess they think their gene pool is superior. 🙄
Here’s a solution: Stop sending your kids to college. There…problem solved
Yep.
Trade school is cheaper and the average pay for electricians, mechanics, etc. is much higher than that of most college grads.
Another thing to consider, whatever the government subsidizes always becomes more expensive.
The government should stop funding student loans.
If ever I have kids, I’m sending them to the trades. They’ll be some of the most useful people if the SHTF.
Thank you for a very informative article. Hits hard. My wife and I have five children. Would have had more but I think we’re past that now that we’re in our mid 40s.
The FAFSA change is utterly outrageous.
One thing that has been a game changer for me is the use of my Health Savings Account. I would highly recommend people get one if you can, especially if you have a bunch of kids.
I don’t comment much but this one got to me: I have 7 young children and am making significantly more than I ever have up til now – and yet we’re broker than ever.
We are quite frugal and I drive everywhere on a motorcycle or bike, so our gas bill is less than most.
Inflation is real – even if it’s imperceptible on most levels. That’s how they do it. This poor tax doesn’t really affect the wealthy, so they can continue to have as many children as they want.
I really think that Tucker Carlson has come over to this as THE point too: if you have a bunch of kids (assuming decent health and age), then you win. On purely human terms, it’s the only measure of a life worth living. Also, for what it’s worth – and please consider the point on its own merit – it’s why the Catholic and Orthodox churches have considered consecrated celibacy such a lofty sacrifice for their priests, monks and nuns. They give up the great good of earthly children in order to help birth souls for heaven.
Well, according to the book “The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by Peter Zeihan, they don’t need to do anything to reduce the global population. It’s already actually declining out of control. They wouldn’t be frantically cramming Western countries with unregulated immigration to create taxpayers if they were really trying to depopulate. So I suspect it’s really about maintaining the narrative to keep control of their agriculture and climate scam. Otherwise, they would have to admit that they were wrong and lose control of their narrative. It’s about big money and ESG.
If you haven’t read that book, by the way, I highly recommend it. Eye-opening.
In my option it is a color revolution.
It is past time for the government to stay the H E double hockey sticks out of OUR business.
Not to be morbid, but, I recently read a report that said the “murder rate” for seniors in Japan has increased drastically lately due to there not being enough “young caretakers” to care for aging parents. All due to decreased birth rates.
The choices you make in life are the choices you (not the government) are responsible for. The number of children you bring into the world requires you should be able to care for all of their basic needs. College is not a basic need. Nor is every child college material. Let them gain appreciation for their achievements by actually working for them … rather than ‘expecting’ them. The alternative is lazy and entitled kids.
I had my last child in 2015 thank goodness, but I had good ins. Through my husband’s job and my job. But when covid hit my husband lost his job and is currently working for a small company that has obiden ins. Which isn’t an option for us since my husband is an hourly worker and can make anywhere between $77,000-$120,000 in a year we would more than likely end up owing money every tax season. Some of the guys he works with took the ins. And end up paying the difference every yr. Which they really can’t afford with Bidenomics. I work as a teacher at a private school its small no Ins. But I work there so my kids get to be there free and they aren’t in public school system with all the crap…and I know about the crap 1st hand since I worked public school system 22yrs. We buy our own ins. Which is an arm and a leg and doesn’t cover well visits…pretty much its just going to cover major events. I am very glad all in my family are healthy so we don’t have a lot of doc. Visits. I don’t know how families will make it as time goes on. I don’t know how my own kids will have families…very sad
Have you checked out Medishare?
It is a Christian “insurance” (quotes because it’s more a group of Christians who share medical expenses, rather than a company like Blue Cross.)
It’s supposed to be an affordable alternative to most insurance companies.
To qualify you can’t drink or smoke. But have heard its decent
Having enough kids to support the older population is critical. Plus the things that they will create and invent will benefit society. They are looking at things very short sighted
The Globalists worship death.
They do not want to benefit society.
They want to destroy it.
That is also short-sighted. If you have a lot of children to benefit yourself in old age, they will eventually be the ones to suffer from scarcity and overcrowding.
I heard somewhere that we could fit the entire world population into the state of Texas land-wise and still have a substantial amount of space for families. If people started doing things for themselves (growing crops, raising livestock, making products, practicing sustainable practices, etc.) then scarcity wouldn’t be an issue either. I agree in that it is irresponsible to have more children than one can support and that some cultures tend to be a bit worse than others in terms of that. Scarcity and overcrowding truly wouldn’t really be an issue if people got back to the land and connected with their roots. It might be a simple life with fewer thrills (and more than likely out in a rural area), but it can be full of purpose and fulfillment, one where people do for themselves. Also, it would be sad to be older and live alone with no one around you in your golden years. There is security in having kids – after all, it tends to be much better to be cared for by your adult children than a worker who may be getting paid minimum wage and couldn’t care less about his or her patients. Many horror stories exist of seniors being brutally beaten in nursing homes by healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, illegal aliens are being ENCOURAGED into our countries, bringing their sizeable families with them. …And we get the bills…
I keep telling people… it’s the replacement population. Plus they’re the democrats’ ticket to another 4 years in office.
And the Democrat party ( along with their RINO allies) is the party of slavery.
They just aren’t happy unless someone has the fruits of their labor given to someone else who hasn’t earned them.
Agreed 100%. I try to tell my peers this, that our future is quite literally being destroyed and stolen before our eyes. However, pretty much all of them, save a few, are so brainwashed and content with being slaves that they won’t hear me. This is why most of my friends are two to three times my age because it is practically impossible to find any young people with their heads screwed on right.
A 1000 up votes.
I think another big reason why women are not particularly enthused about having kids is that their childbearing and childrearing efforts are often either downplayed or not acknowledged at all by their spouse. I’ve heard time and again men say “it’s my money” and not treat their wives as equal partners. Who cooks, cleans, shops, and supports behind the scenes? Answer: women (in the vast majority of scenarios). Yes, our roles are different, however, they are both essential to the raising of a good family. One role is not necessarily more or less important than the other. Men also seem to expect that their wives or partners work in addition to running a household, which is a double-standard that will more than likely lead to early aging and resentment if done outside the home. If you want to have a family and actually raise your kids, unfortunately it seems that you will have to accept being of less value because “you don’t contribute financially”. These are just my thoughts based off couples whose interactions I’ve witnessed over the years. As someone belonging to the younger generation, I’m not really in a rush to have kids and be berated for not contributing. Unless my partner and I can be on the same page and work as a team towards a common goal, I’ll use that love and devotion to care for other people’s kids and animals.
Note: I am aware that some people might call me a “genetic dead end,” however I will not live a life where my efforts go unvalued just for the sake of “continuing my line”. Things are too hard out here already in the financial sense. I’ve seen couples who are on the same page and value their partner’s work, and I’m happy for them because being a true team is very rare these days. They work together, and that is the model I would desire. I just couldn’t stand a life where I put all that effort into being a homemaker only to not have any value in the eyes of my husband. I’d rather be free than be of no value.
The lesson is:
be extremely careful in choosing your future spouse.
Agreement on goals, as well as mutual respect are critical in any partnership, especially so in marriage.
Annie, this is my life. Six kids, homeschool, working, housekeeping, and only attacked for not doing more. My husband watched movies and drank for 16 months with the lockdown while our two oldest daughters (18 and 14 in 2020) and I worked. He’s telling me now I need to earn more! But he quit his job this past January to work part-time doing gigs. If I wanted to be a Career Woman I wouldn’t have gotten married, let alone have children.
Wow… I am very sorry to hear that. It’s a very upside-down world we find ourselves living in these days. I don’t necessarily want to be a career woman either, but I’m a single 22 year old woman so it looks like I’m gonna have to climb that ladder to survive. At the very least I’ve chosen a fulfilling career, but I cannot see surrendering my independence to a man for a good several years. I’ve been walked out on in a relationship before, so I will make any man prove himself to see whether his actions match his words and if he can “stand the test of time” so-to-speak.
Being “Just a Mom” is the most important, damn job on the planet. First, all homeschooling Moms are friggin Ninjas. I am a military college graduate with an MBA, and I will tell you, the role of MOM is the most challenging and rewarding role that life has to offer. Sweet Mom, know this: God will honor what you are doing, and have done. Keep the faith, Sister.
My daughter in law is a stay at home Mom and home schooled. She is the most valued member of our family. She is raising good people with morals and a work ethic.
My Son has never told her it was his money and never will. He knows how valuable his wife is to every member of our family.
You just need to find the right man that values you.
Preach! 😉 I fully agree with you and some others. We’ve contributed 5 to this, no support from anyone and don’t regret any of it. Kids truly bring you out of your own selfishness and are a hoot. The hard days are quickly covered with deep belly laughter and great times by seeing life through their sweet, unadulterated eyes. That’s why they are gifts.
While pregnant for each one we panicked thinking how ever can we afford each one but parents just do what you have to (well most). In our case, it worked out. I don’t understand how some women just keep having them, single and with only government support which is a never ending trap and a lie the government created.
We must fix continuing to reward this. There lies fixing some of the societal failure of fatherless homes.
Of course, as with everything there is no blanket, general statement to fix this.
Overpopulation is the most serious problem facing the world. Look at Gaza, which has doubled its population in twenty years. Many resources are finite. It is fair for different communities to decide what number of children is sustainable and how to limit population increase to that level. The entire community is deeply affected by each person’s choices. The first time I went to Mexico there were many signs saying La familia pequenha vive mejor. At that time most people I knew came from families of four to six children. Those children for the most part grew up to have one or two children.
Then you might feel more comfortable living in such a society, like Red China.
I lived in Mexico City. Lines to check out at Gigante were always an hour long. A bus stopped at a terminal and I remember looking out the window at thousands of people standing outside looking for their bus. Every inch of the ground covered by people as far as the eye could see. Garbage littering the ground everywhere. Subways with people standing so close I couldn’t breathe. Six or seven people pressed against me. Special cars for women during rush hour. Mexicans as a whole are very nice, though. Five years ago we were in Mexico City and used its new Metro Bus. I showed my daughter the symbols for the different stations along the wall next to the door and the one we’d eventually get off at. There were a hundred men squeezed in, all avidly listening. And all giving us advice. When we reached our station, everyone pushed against us cooperated to make way and gently push us out.
There is a limit. You might say, Well, who needs a yard? Who needs a car? Electricity, gasoline, a change of clothes, a computer, food beyond rice and beans if you’re lucky. I might want more of them than you do, but your having a lot of children forecloses those options for everyone. Jared Diamond in Collapse describes Rwanda before the massacre. Previously, fathers left plots of five acres to their sons when they died, to farm and produce for their family. But generations of having many sons reached the point that by 1994, fathers were leaving one-sixteenth of an acre to their sons, too little to live off of. Which caused the massacre.
I read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck to my daughter. She describes how people suffered, with many dying, during a famine, a regular occurrence. As late as the sixties, millions of Chinese starved to death. Just two years ago, the UN said that it had run out of food and money and could do nothing to help the starving people in central Africa.
You wish that I should go to China, which completely stopped starvation with its one child policies. Now it’s encouraging more. Which is fine, a matter of balance. Do you wish that I should go to starve to death during a famine or to only be able to have one child? Would you consider going to live in Gaza, which has doubled its population in twenty years? I understand it is very densely packed.
Overpopulation is not occurring in Western Countries and cultures.
My Amish neighbors have seven girls. Seven..! He and his wife are 33 and 32 and farm 65 acres. Has a herd of horses and cattle and a small flock of sheep. He works days as a licensed contractor and at night is my primary skinner on the kill floor. His wife keeps an immaculate home and the children are all clean and well dressed. When they need to travel overnight or distances too impractical for horse and buggy they hire a driver, and, boy, do they ever pay for that. When they’re sick they home remedy, go to a home practitioner, or if needed an actual physician at a hospital. They grow their own food and work their tails of as a family and never seem to lose the smiles on their faces all day long. And, I’m sure, that there will be an eighth baby within the next year. Every other Amish family in the community is exactly like the one I just described.
My neighbors that are not Amish in the same generation (millennial) have a kid. Maybe two. I don’t know of a family with three or more. BUT,! They all have two jobs and at least two vehicles (most have 3), two fourwheelers, a side-by-side, two snowmobiles, two dogs, go on two financed vacations annually and eat outside their own kitchen as a regular routine.
Two examples I see every day. Two extreme opposites. Two different sets of priorities. Two different outcomes. Two different rates of return on investment.
In the end, I believe anything is achievable. Especially children. Good people should have children. Lots of them. Any excuse for not having children if one wants a large family is just that, an excuse.
I will only believe the elites who advocate for population control are sincere, when they lead by example and end their own lives.
Until then, I suspect that they are wanna-be mass murderers who get off on human death.
Wieso glauben die meisten eigentlich das die Kommunisten an allem Schuld sind? Wo in der westlichen Welt haben die das sagen? Unter den westlichen Eliten auf keinen Fall. Dort regiert das Großkapital Und das ist kapitalistisch wie das System in dem wir leben. Deshalb heißt es auch Kapitalismus/ Imperialismus. Und wenn ich mir die USA GB und die EU anschaue, dann sagt mir schon die Besetzung der politischen Parlamente das die alle nichts mit Kommunismus, Links und Sozialismus aber sehr viel mit Faschismus und Zionismus zu tun haben. Es ist für mich eine totale Verblödungsmasche, die auch viele investigative hofieren. Nur scheint es keiner zu merken, oder es ist so gewollt.. Wenn das nur der Hass auf den Kommunismus ist, den ihr damit ausdrücken wollt, beweist ihr nur wie blind Hass machen kann. Unter dem Banner der Kriminalisierung des Kommunismus, hofiert ihr nur die globale imperialistische, faschistische, Mafia Ausrichtung der westlichen Politik. Gut zu erkennen an der politischen Kriminalisierung der Parlamente und des kap. Systems selbst. Und ich frage mich (aber mehr nicht) ob einer von von den Kommunismus Feind Predigern außer dem kommunistischen Manifest wirklich schon mal das Hauptwerk von Karl Marx gelesen hat. Sei es drum, die heutigen Generationen müssen mit ihrer Verblendung leben. Sie werden das denke ich aber mit ihrer Denkweise nichts lösen sondern sich selber versklaven. Wir sind schon auf dem Weg.
Not dismissing Ms. Hawthorne’s research but we have done a degree of lower birth rates ourselves.
Male sperm counts and mobility have been on a steady decline for decades. What is the cause is up for great debate. Personally, I think it is a mix of diet/highly processed food stuff, exercise or the lack there of, the sedentary lifestyle many young people have and screens, screens, screens! A recent study found the average teen spends 4.5 hours a day staring at a screen.
Yes, the irony I said all that while typing in front of a screen is not lost on me.
Stagflation. Since the 1970s the average American’s pay has not matched inflation and the cost of living. The ability to raise a family on a single paycheck is out of the question for the majority of Americans without some kind of greatly reduced quality of life. Now, I think that one is subjective as to who is making the definition of that quality of life. If a young couple decided to make a go at it by buying a very small home, less than 1,500sqft (Note: National average of a home is now at 2,400sqft for a family of 3), one car, forego a big screen TV in every room to just one, basic cell phone plan, no cable, grow a lot of their own food, most Americans heads would explode. Heck, once when I told a co-worker I did not have cable, she asked me if I was poor. She also had a 2.400sqft home for her and her one child.
In this kind of economic environment, young people are putting major life stones to later in life or not at all. That includes children. A good friend did not have her son till her latter 30s. Unless something monumental occurs, my daughter is of the “I am not having kids!” kind.
Of course I question the ‘reduce birthrates’ narrative in the long run.
Back in the early 1950s there were 5 workers for every retiree. Now, it is down to something like 2 workers for every retiree. That is not sustainable. At some point there is not going to be enough workers to pay into Social Security. Then we either have to work longer before retiring or scale back payouts or both. In the long run, that too is not sustainable.
Then there is the constant growth paradigm. Start scaling back on your population, that is that much less consumers to buy stuff. Profits fall, market expectations are not met, stocks fall, 401ks do not do well or poorly, retirements become even more questionable.
Then what is the alternative? The much smaller populace in a planed, 15 minute walkable city with cameras everywhere? Some WHO yahoo just announced a war on meat. Eat more plant based food stuff. Perhaps bugs.
In a word, no. No to the whole idea of planned cities, eating bugs.
Honestly, I think I would rather live poor and free than just eh, and under their control.
Henry Kissinger, famous US politician, instigated the National Security Study Memorandum 200: Blueprint for World Depopulation in 1974.. he is finally dead this year, (don’t know why some of these evil people get so old..?).
Thank you Mary Hawthorne and OP for wonderful insightful articles!
If the government grab of civil liberties (during con vid) wasn’t a wake up call then maybe the 40% increase in death rate of 18-64 year olds should be.
What does this have to do with having children you may ask. The accelerated death rate is uniquely tied to the vax rate. As is the autism, add & sids rates.
Taking your kids or yourself to a “wellness check” at your local Dr equates to a higher “sickness rate”.
Yes, people used to die from transmittable diseases, now they die from medical mistakes and toxic pharmaceuticals.
Women used to have babies at how with the help of midwives and experienced other women. Funny thing is as women were transitioned to birthing in hospitals the infection rates and subsequent death & infertility rates went up. Yes, women did die in childbirth, at home and in hospitals.
Now we have an ever increasing number of cesarean births. Why? $$$$$
If, as someone else stated, you chose a bit more wisely before marriage your parenting experience could be much better.
As a matter of interest is the effect of birth control pills in masking the biological senses in helping find a more suitable mate. It’s been noted that women especially find their not as attracted to their initial choice in men when they quit using birth control. There is a biological reason for body odors, it helps us find healthy, compatible mates.
If you want kids, have the number of children you want. In reality, no one can “afford” children. You will find you just have to reallocate to afford what you have.
As the the doom n gloomers spouting off about famines and crushing humanity. Homo sapiens have endured die offs before, you never know who the more genetically robust individuals are who will survive.
Who cares what “the elites” want, they dont have real power, they rent it from the govt. We raised 4 kids. They can suck it if that conflicts with thier plans.
Do you think that is a good thing or a bad thing? It’s a bad thing to reduce birthrates here in America. Our children are a national treasure, who must be cherished and protected. Fathers and mothers should be honored and supported.
Another reason why this push to disincentivise childbirth is messed up, is because it’s hitting the middle class hardest. Those who have state funded health care, while it’s really crappy, won’t be affected as much and neither will the ultra rich. I’m not seeing a big trend toward large families anyway. So what are the powers that be really trying to do here?
I was accidental, and my folks were broke, but they got creative and had me at a birth clinic with a midwife. My grandmother had 9 kids. I had no siblings and no children. I was basically raised with the unspoken assumption that kids are troublesome and expensive and I never had enough money in my healthy bearing years to even consider it. I’m glad in a way, I don’t think I could deal with raising children in todays climate. This is all really sad because ultimately, you need children to continue, they really are our future.
Meanwhile some countries such as Japan are having fewer and fewer children and their population is dropping because of it. Meanwhile many of my contemporaries chose to never have children because of the reasons I mentioned above.
If I had to do it over again I would have avoided university like the plague and gone to a trade school, in my opinion universities are only legitimate for people who want a hardcore STEM career. No, not STEAM, STEM. You don’t need school to learn art and literature.
I noticed that several of the comments reference overpopulation. But is that true? Or do we just deal with pockets of overpopulation, with vast spaces between? That if we spread people out more evenly over the surface of the earth, that we wouldn’t see the problems we see?
About 60 years ago, tens of millions of Chinese starved to death. But it turns out that that was a government caused famine. Similar to the Holodomor in Ukraine. In other words, it was not caused by overpopulation.
Some years back, I was in China and met people who told me that they planned to have no children, because they thought China was so badly overpopulated. As we drove miles through forests and saw even fallow fields, I asked “If China is so overpopulated, why are we driving through these forests?” I got no answer.
Asia is facing a population implosion. Japan, South Korea, China, are seeing their populations precipitously decrease. Too few children are being born. The elderly are being neglected. Many are committing suicide. Western Europe is almost as bad. Already we’re seeing companies fail because of lack of workers. How much can the population shrink before society falls apart?
I have three sons who grew to adlthood.
Well, here’s my two cents. We love abortion in the country. LOVE IT! The people have spoken so guess what? If you don’t get life RIGHT IN THE WOMB, you don’t get life right outside the womb!! Children WERE SEEN as a blessing from God. Today? A burden. And no, I am not talking about a year ago or two years ago, I mean this goes back to the sexual revolution. Detach sex from
Marriage
Responsibility
Man’s duty before the Lord God Almighty to procreate,be fruitful and multiply.
Revolt from maturity
Accountability/
So yeah, we deserve 100% where we are at!
At least they aren’t using 2,000 pound bombs.
Or paragliders.
ZH put out an article last night. It addresses the concerns of Ms. Hawthorne’s article here. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/has-feminism-and-hoeflation-destroyed-dating-west
Hate to break it to you ladies, but, apparently, the problem is, well..you. ~80% of single “women” are chasing ~20% of available men. This lopsided data point is due to the females looking for financial security over attractiveness first. Interesting.
Some look at this as the glass being half empty. Not me. Follow me on this. I adore women. I have always held the belief that, because women are the gatekeepers and hold all the keys to the procreation doors, women are instinctively ahead of men in the survival game. During times of severe duress women will eat more than men instinctively storing up for lean times. Likewise women don’t have as many babies when there are anticipated bad times on the horizon. So, apparently, women perceive there are A LOT of “men” out in the wild unworthy or presumably unable to provide for and protect them. So, women are not having children. Globally.
V. Putin just weeks ago addressed Russians directly on this subject. He, in fact, pleaded for women to have “8 children or more” and to make large families in Russia the “norm again”. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/vladimir-putin-urges-russian-women-to-have-8-or-more-children-4623479
So, IMO, even some world leaders are aware of this issue and are PREPARING their population to do something about it.
~Jim,
I read in another article on The Free Press about men giving up on dating.
There is a thing called the Three Sixes: 1, the guy has to make at least six figures. 2, he has to be at least six feet tall. 3, he has to have at least six inches down there.
Another trend I read about is not only the guy expected to pay for dinner on a date, but to pay to have her hair done, her nails done and the Uber if she has to take one.
And here is the really crazy one, the AI chat-bot girlfriend. For a monthly subscription, you can create a AI girlfriend who will send you text messages. As it is AI, it learns what you like, dont like, flirt with you, ask you how your day was etc. Guys are getting the attention, even if it is from a AI, at a lower cost than paying for a single date.
There are AI chat-bot boyfriends too, but not as popular with the ladies as it is the guys.
This is crazy!
“And here is the really crazy one, the AI chat-bot girlfriend. For a monthly subscription, you can create a AI girlfriend who will send you text messages. As it is AI, it learns what you like, dont like, flirt with you, ask you how your day was etc.“
Weirdo-bizzarro world for sure.
I can’t imagine a world without the exhilaration of that first touch, first kiss, first deep conversation that leads to love and an indestructible bond. For better or worse. Even worse a world where you never share the first moments of a babe’s life together. The perfectness of their tiny fingers and toes, the lovely little flush cheeks and lips.
To willingly chose a chat bot over reality..? Ugh. Whatever. We’re doomed. I don’t know that I can find fault in a woman being super selective based on this info.