I am so gobsmacked (and also not?) that the same people screaming that teen mothers were whores and sluts 10, 20, 30 years ago are the same people moaning about how far teen birth rates have fallen. I know there was never consistency here (except for whatever controlled women the best) but the complete 180 on this is still shocking. It would be so hilarious in its bad faith if the consequences weren’t so dire.
I know, right? These are the same people forcing teen girls to have purity balls. I think they want them married off like medieval chattel as teens. Republicans will have us all in red hoods if we don't vote them out.
Also, the situation wouldn't be nearly so dire if they weren't deporting so many willing and able working people from this country, but they don't want to face that inconvenient truth either.
Yes, I made this point a few years ago and I nearly got my head chewed off. You can't deport an entire young workforce and then wonder why your population is dropping. But you see...there is the catch. They only want white babies.
Thank you Carlyn... sadly, I think you're right. But if they only want white babies, there won't be enough people left in the USA to run a modern country!
Universal healthcare free at the point of delivery would be a useful start.
So, once upon a time a man could support a wife, 7 kids, and probably his brother’s wife and kids if they got killed in military service. But then a few men starting keeping all the wealth for themselves. If the wealth of the Epstein Billionaire Class was redistributed more evenly perhaps people could afford to start families earlier and have more children.
Reducing taxation by spending less on war would help too.
Kind of thinking that US civilisation collapse maybe a good thing for the rest of the world. You’ve turned into a pretty nasty and hateful country. Apologies to all the American people who are lovely…
I mean, yeah, birthrates are collapsing. But the reason Katie Miller has to be all in for teen pregnancy is that the answer is not only staring her in the face, it's shouted at her every day: immigration.
Women used to have many children because they didn't have a choice. Of course they needed to have children to help with the farm, but they were not allowed to say no to their husbands. If they did they were beaten, raped, even killed, and it was legal. And has anyone ever thought about how many women have been raped during human history? It's in the multiple, multiple millions. Maybe more. Any unprotected woman, any time, anywhere, was probably or definitely raped. And rape has always been a weapon of war. It is a crime of violence, not passion. If you watch a few old westerns you'd realize how unrealistic they are in that respect. A man on a horse stops at a house to get water. It's not near enough to the next one for anyone to hear a scream. He finds the wife alone while her husband is out hunting, or she's a widow, and he takes advantage of the situation 95% of the time. Maybe more. And it still happens. And still women prevail. The world can't run without us.
Looking back a couple of generations and seeing the decline in life affordability it's easy to project into the future and say, nah. No one wants to be a parent when the oligarchs are hell bent on extracting everything we have from us and our children.
The kids are all right, but I do worry for them.
On the plus side, a falling population will drive capital/asset prices down. Think about who is making all the noise. Economists will eventually learn how to tackle a quasi steady-state condition or even a slowly declining one. But even then, the powerful will quake. They have the most to lose. The powerful may even need to do some of their own work, care for themselves, heaven forbid.
Are you familiar with the 50% child mortality rate before the age of 15 it puts an interesting light on why women are less desperate to have children as they were in the past when the very survival of the human species depended on making lots of babies and losing on the average half of them so if you wanted grandchildren, you had to work hard to get it.
Birth-rate panic always seems to arrive with plenty of surveillance and moralizing, and strangely little interest in making women’s actual lives more livable. If people wanted more families, they’d spend less time lecturing women and more time dealing with the daily conditions that make partnership, caregiving, and childrearing feel punishing.
I am so gobsmacked (and also not?) that the same people screaming that teen mothers were whores and sluts 10, 20, 30 years ago are the same people moaning about how far teen birth rates have fallen. I know there was never consistency here (except for whatever controlled women the best) but the complete 180 on this is still shocking. It would be so hilarious in its bad faith if the consequences weren’t so dire.
I know, right? These are the same people forcing teen girls to have purity balls. I think they want them married off like medieval chattel as teens. Republicans will have us all in red hoods if we don't vote them out.
Yes! That's just nuts!
Also, the situation wouldn't be nearly so dire if they weren't deporting so many willing and able working people from this country, but they don't want to face that inconvenient truth either.
Yes, I made this point a few years ago and I nearly got my head chewed off. You can't deport an entire young workforce and then wonder why your population is dropping. But you see...there is the catch. They only want white babies.
Thank you Carlyn... sadly, I think you're right. But if they only want white babies, there won't be enough people left in the USA to run a modern country!
Universal healthcare free at the point of delivery would be a useful start.
So, once upon a time a man could support a wife, 7 kids, and probably his brother’s wife and kids if they got killed in military service. But then a few men starting keeping all the wealth for themselves. If the wealth of the Epstein Billionaire Class was redistributed more evenly perhaps people could afford to start families earlier and have more children.
Reducing taxation by spending less on war would help too.
It seems the only ones doing what they say are their own fan base.
My Trump supporter neighbors now have four kids. It’s almost as if they saw the “Do it for the Fatherland!” poster and went all-in.
The part of this “conservatives” aren’t considering is the children may turn out to be the most bleeding heart liberals the world has ever seen.
Imagine this conversation happening between child and parent:
C: Why am I here?
P: We were afraid the white race was going extinct, so we got busy, and the result was you and your siblings.
C: You selfish piece of shit!
Kind of thinking that US civilisation collapse maybe a good thing for the rest of the world. You’ve turned into a pretty nasty and hateful country. Apologies to all the American people who are lovely…
We will turn this around. If we don't, we won't have any foreign allies left. 😔
I mean, yeah, birthrates are collapsing. But the reason Katie Miller has to be all in for teen pregnancy is that the answer is not only staring her in the face, it's shouted at her every day: immigration.
It reads like an old stump speech.
READ. MY. LIPS. BREED. MORE. WORKERS.
haha yep. That sums it up. Now the “welfare queens” aren’t breeding enough.
Nice Post Carlyn...
Women used to have many children because they didn't have a choice. Of course they needed to have children to help with the farm, but they were not allowed to say no to their husbands. If they did they were beaten, raped, even killed, and it was legal. And has anyone ever thought about how many women have been raped during human history? It's in the multiple, multiple millions. Maybe more. Any unprotected woman, any time, anywhere, was probably or definitely raped. And rape has always been a weapon of war. It is a crime of violence, not passion. If you watch a few old westerns you'd realize how unrealistic they are in that respect. A man on a horse stops at a house to get water. It's not near enough to the next one for anyone to hear a scream. He finds the wife alone while her husband is out hunting, or she's a widow, and he takes advantage of the situation 95% of the time. Maybe more. And it still happens. And still women prevail. The world can't run without us.
Our bodies, ourselves!
Looking back a couple of generations and seeing the decline in life affordability it's easy to project into the future and say, nah. No one wants to be a parent when the oligarchs are hell bent on extracting everything we have from us and our children.
The kids are all right, but I do worry for them.
On the plus side, a falling population will drive capital/asset prices down. Think about who is making all the noise. Economists will eventually learn how to tackle a quasi steady-state condition or even a slowly declining one. But even then, the powerful will quake. They have the most to lose. The powerful may even need to do some of their own work, care for themselves, heaven forbid.
Are you familiar with the 50% child mortality rate before the age of 15 it puts an interesting light on why women are less desperate to have children as they were in the past when the very survival of the human species depended on making lots of babies and losing on the average half of them so if you wanted grandchildren, you had to work hard to get it.
https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality-in-the-past
Birth-rate panic always seems to arrive with plenty of surveillance and moralizing, and strangely little interest in making women’s actual lives more livable. If people wanted more families, they’d spend less time lecturing women and more time dealing with the daily conditions that make partnership, caregiving, and childrearing feel punishing.