As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challenges
As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challenges
48 comments
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I have no idea why anyone would subject children to this life right now. Women are losing autonomy, racism runs rampant. War criminals are nominating for Peace Prizes. Shit just all around sucks.
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Having children now would be pretty cruel unless you’re stupid rich. And even then, the future for that lot might be real bleak too.
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If you want people to have more babies, at least try to do something about the climate emergency and pay a livable wage. Until then, fuck off.
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Lots of things we could do to encourage having children in the US. Like providing socialized healthcare. Investing in education. Higher salaries. Better work benefits.
But we don’t do any of these things. Quite the opposite. And yet the powers that be still expect us to want more kids?
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I find it so weird how many on the right wring their hands and clutch their pearls about birth rates while also claiming America is "full" (wtf? have any of these dipshit even driven through America much?) when it comes to things like immigration.
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To them, America is full though. We don't have any more room for brown people. Racists are not bright people.
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If the income wasn't moved up so high to all those hoarders we'd be off to a good start ..
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Opting out of reproduction is one of the smartest and most impactful things that the average person can do right now.
The world is an absolute dumpster fire, and the situation only seems to be deteriorating.
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That's great, only conservatives will have kids and eventually every country will become a religious conservative shithole
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But your (non-existent) kids won't have to deal with it!
Wise cracks aside, on a more serious note:
- Reproduction is an inefficient way to transmit ideas. The $300K and countless hours spent to raise even a single child could reach a much wider audience if put towards education, outreach, etc
- The ship has already sailed on climate change. You'd just be creating new victims.
- So what's the plan? Try and "outbreed" the religious conservatives? No thanks.
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I agree that ecologically it can be a better move but I also don't blame anyone that chooses to have a child because who knows when politicians may revoke your ability to decide in the future.
The real problem is that our current way of life is a sinking ship and we're close to the tipping point when the majority of people will need to find methods of living alternatively. Teaching younger people how to survive in this environment is going to be crucial. A lot will suffer through our collective ignorance until we find a new equilibrium with nature. We can adapt quickly and support climate positive actions or we can prolong it; I think we all know the current direction we're going. Either way, until either the global ecological demand subsides, we're just preparing future generations for an uphill battle.
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What a shite article. Reads like a pro-natalism opinion piece instead of news. I gave up about 2/3 of the way through.
Goes on and on pointing the finger at women, as if men don’t want to have babies either. Has a very “it’s all your fault” tone. Then whines that baby boomers are aging out of the workforce.
Dumbass, there’s a reason they are called “boomers” - they were born during a period when there were an unusually large number of births. Boomers are the exception not the rule.
And the Trump administration has been putting everyone out of work (have you seen all the layoffs this week?), so it’s probably a good thing there will be less people in the workforce since there are equally less jobs available.
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We are realistically looking at losing 2-10% of the total human population over the next 25 years due to hunger caused by simultaneously bread basket collapse. Going out of our way to engineer more births is just adding to the number of victims. Wealthy countries can either adapt their economies to an older population, or they can rely on immigration. But deliberately engineering more people is suicidal. We are on the eve of what history will know as the Great Hunger. It is depressingly obvious that our leaders really haven't internalized the state of the world and what is rapidly approaching.
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We are realistically looking at losing 2-10% of the total human population over the next 25 years
Look at the optimist over here. You're wayyy low. Hope you're right though. 33 - 50% in my view.
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After reading your comment, I felt I had to see what this horrible article was like. I’m afraid I had a completely different read than you did. I found it pretty well balanced, and even a bit liberal leaning. It did not seem to shy away from, subtly, calling out the rich assholes who want us all to breed so they have more workers to enslave. And also the politicians who want us to breed so they have more people to conscript into their armies. Not saying NPR hasn’t gone to shite. They pretty much have from what I gather; I stopped listening a long time ago. But I didn’t think this article was at all objectionable, frankly. Agree to disagree. Cheers!
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I remember my friends parents' calling NPR Nice Polite Republicans and PBS Petroleum Broadcast System back in the 70s (I think) and certainly by the 80s, so....they've been rather right-leaning for a very long time.
This is why I chuckle when I hear some wingnut talking about NPR and PBS as is they are just reeling off Marxist doctrine or something...
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Copying my comment from another post with this same article:
The US' population growth has been sustained by immigration. Guess what is being discouraged by the actions of the current administration?
Who tf is going to have money for children when there is so much financial uncertainty and the job market is this bad?
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Emma Waters, with the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, agrees it's time for a national conversation about birth rates and the choices families are making. "We're going to have more adults than we have children to replace them, and that will heavily impact things like our military readiness, GDP and economic growth in the United States."
It’s almost like the Heritage foundation didn’t at all think through their push for rabid anti-immigration policies, combined with their perceived necessity for increased breeding on behalf of the poors.
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What's ironic is the same people advocating for policies that, basically make it flat out stupid to have kids in this world... are also the ones like "why no one want kids".
OK so yeah the worlds shifted from where one income working 40 hours a week can comfortably afford a 3-4 bedroom house and food for 4+... to you'll be lucky if 2 incomes is enough to afford a shitty one bedroom apartment unless you both are also swimming in school debt. If your 2 incomes happens to be enough to raise kids... well good luck actually raising them as paying someone to take care of your kids is likely equal to your smaller income (at which point you aren't actually making a second income, but trading off to get away from your kids).
So yeah the 2 options are... 1. Give up this "Infinate growth everywhere". can't both have us working more and more for less and less... also cut out all safety nets, then expect us to invest in kids, who we also never will see because were always working...
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Well, let’s be real; pull off the ‘why no one want kids’ mask and you get the actual things they’re saying: ‘why no one want to make white babies because Great Replacement Theory’ and ‘why no one want to be bound to poor working conditions and wage slavery’.
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If only we didn't have to permanently increase production until the end of time. Maybe then a shrinking labor, and consumption base wouldn't a big deal. Its too bad thats not possible whatsoever right?
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We aren't pumping out enough slaves for the system. How awful. Rent is through the roof, kids do nothing but eat and our food in the us is poison as well as expensive.
Most of us can't afford children and don't want them growing up on food stamps.
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Oh fuck off, you want more babies make them yourselves, assholes! Or, hear me out, allow more immigration so you don't have to force people to make babies against their will.
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you want more babies make them yourselves, assholes!
Don't give them any ideas...
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"If these Jezebels don't make more cattle who will work at McDonald's?"
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Challenges like maintaining a population of obedient and desperate slaves to serve the rich.
If this is the best we can do I can't subject a child to this, i will not procreate in hell thanks.
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No point in the fascists having access to yet more easily-brainwashed young folks.
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Good for Women. No one wants to have a baby with an incel!
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Incels need to grapple with the fact that women are so easy for them to give up….
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Ever seen Idocracy? Some people are still having babies.
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U.S. fertility rate is actually up the last few years, still below replacement level, but up.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/usa/united-states/fertility-rate
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Seems thel likely outcome of stripping away women's bodily autonomy
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48 comments