tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8044038316940591889..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: Mitt Romney's Family PlanJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-67275916873852624142021-02-07T11:09:10.096-05:002021-02-07T11:09:10.096-05:00Then came the Great Recession, and something chang...Then came the Great Recession, and something changed. Birth rates usually fall in recessions, so nobody was alarmed at first, but then the economy came roaring back the birth rate did not.<br /><br />The thing is, the economy "recovered", but that doesn't mean it went back to the way things were previously. The recovery was wildly unequal, with more affluent sections of the populace seeing bigger rebounds, and the poorer sections remaining less well off than they had been before.<br /><br />Simply put, you can easily explain the failure of the recovery to boost birth rates by realizing that the people who recovered and grew are generally older and wealthier and already have all the children they want, while the people who didn't recover and have atrophied are generally younger and poorer, and would be having children if they could afford to, and likely won't have children later even if things improve because it'll be too late then.<br /><br />It's young people who have children, and the youth in this country are by and large NOT doing well economically. From the point of view of the older generations, the economy recovered quite nicely. From the point of view of the younger generations, the economy never recovered at all, and children are a luxury many can't afford.<br /><br />Between "the gig economy", stagnant wages, slashed benefits, insane housing prices, similarly bloated healthcare costs, and a gerontocratic government controlled by out of touch Baby Boomers who discount the reality that young Americans are more liberal than ever before in history in order to keep courting the more conservative older generations who have yet to die off and stop voting... frankly, I'm surprised we haven't seen an even larger drop in birth rates. A whole lot of young people have very little faith in this country, and feel like they'll be lucky to survive to old age.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com