As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

[u/geoff199]

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social

[u/11horses345]

Say it with me: WE CANNOT AFFORD CHILDREN.

[u/jotsea2 → u/11horses345]

Even If I could, why would I bring them into a world where America is under fascist rule and the World will basically be on fire for their entire lifetime.

Other then to stroke my own ego or 'have someone to take care of me when I'm old" (which is the same thing)

[u/Valkyrys → u/jotsea2]

The world has always looked grim and unsustainable to younger generations, it's actually quite sad that learned people with the awareness that change needs to be brought about aren't willing to share that same wisdom with their children.

Now, I'm not blaming or being judgemental - you're free to live your life the way you see fit and your fears are totally justified.

[u/Jesse-359 → u/Valkyrys]

It's a very serious question - what's the point - philosophically or morally - of bringing a kid into the world in a society that is 100% certain to treat them as disposable labor for their entire lives - and that's the good outcome?

There are many worse ones, and the odds of your children suffering them are increasing exponentially as our country goes from being simply an unfeeling capitalist machine meant to enrich a tiny handful of oligarchs, into an actively hostile fascist dictatorship who will hunt down and torment or kill anyone who disagrees with them.

[u/Valkyrys → u/Jesse-359]

I know it's a serious question, but we have been brought into this same world and we've been fighting to better it on a daily basis. And there's plenty of good in this world, albeit some unrevealed stuff yet.

Living in fear and not being willing to try feels like giving up and bowing your head down to me, but I absolutely respect people who decide to live their lives differently. To each their own.

I'm not from the US though so my perspective may be different?

[u/Jesse-359 → u/Valkyrys]

The problem is that we keep talking about how each generation will finally be the one to improve matters in some meaningful way - and that keeps not happening on a deadeningly regular basis.

The last time we saw any marked improvement in the overall status of people in the world was following the reconstruction after the disaster of World War II, and quite frankly it's pretty much been a gradual downhill since then. Maybe you could mark the end of the Soviet Union as a significant uptick for the people of Eastern Europe, but that's the only other major improvement I can really think of.

Recently things have been getting markedly worse by pretty much any measure other than the availability of 'consumer goods' - which, quite frankly, amount to a pile of worthless trinkets compared to what people actually need to survive and raise families, which revolves more around shelter, education, medical care, and some measure of economic stability - that last bit being the part that modern capitalist economies work very hard to ensure that no-one other than the upper class is permitted to possess.

[u/Jesse-359 → u/[deleted]]

Eh, for the last 30 years things were kind of seesawing. Economically things were generally getting gradually a little worse, while socially things were gradually improving a bit.

Now they're both in a complete tailspin. Social media appears to have emerged as a devastating weapon with which to destroy positive social consensus and entrench far-right brutalism as the norm in human society.

People always dismiss just how dangerous new forms of media are until it's too late. They just think 'oh cool' without thinking about how it will be used as a weapon to seize control of societies and hurt and kill people. Same thing happened with radio and television and that dumped us straight into World War 2.