I don’t know what the answer is. It seems to be that kids are a huge investment, in time, money , resources etc. and in return they are supposed to take care of you when you can no longer work and do for yourself. What’s happened is that governments have stepped in and taken over this function, so instinctively people are avoiding having kids because, what the heck, we don’t need them. People don’t think this on a conscious level but subconsciously. Again this is pure speculation on my part, but it’s the only explanation I can come up with.
A galling statement
and at a subconscious level,
probably driving a lot of
self-destructive behavior
“What’s happened is that governments have stepped in and taken over this function, so instinctively people are avoiding having kids because, what the heck, we don’t need them.”
Yes, but that implies that those same systems for taking care of folks in their old age will continue to function. So if you assume that social security and your friends will take care of you when you can’t then by all means having kids makes no sense from an economic perspective. Lots of money in, nothing much in return.
BUT if you assume that all these nice little social constructs are built on sand, then having children is a mighty nice insurance policy. Not to mention a lot of fun in their own right.
While I don’t like the demographic trends in the macro sense, in the micro sense I can’t say it bothers me much. If vain, egotistical, self-centered people choose to not breed and end up deleting themselves from the gene pool, I can’t say that it’s going to keep me awake at night.