Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many people enjoy it
I never said it’s not enjoyable to some. But raising a human has enormous costs.
I guess I don’t understand what you mean by “wasteful” then.
What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
31–40 of 160 posts
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#32> fertility rates tend to fall below the level needed to maintain the population, 2.1 children per woman.
Why 2.1 and not 2?
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#33> No one really knows why birth rates are dropping so fast. [...] Many people have theories but if you critically examine them they fall apart. > [#1] People do not have money for kids. [#2] The Government isn’t Providing pro-natal policies. [#3] This is happening only in societies that are not religious. [#4] Women are working and not having kids. That seems like an incomplete list. For example, how about this one:…
Pro-natal policies are a drop in the bucket compared to the fact that basics like housing costs 10x more than with the previous high-baby-having generations
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#34> No one really knows why birth rates are dropping so fast. [...] Many people have theories but if you critically examine them they fall apart. > [#1] People do not have money for kids. [#2] The Government isn’t Providing pro-natal policies. [#3] This is happening only in societies that are not religious. [#4] Women are working and not having kids. That seems like an incomplete list. For example, how about this one:…
My contribution.
[5] People actually have some agency* and have decided to limit the number of kids they have for the good of everyone else.
[6] People actually have some agency and think dividing the family wealth among a lot of kids is a bad idea.
* Lot of wanna be cargo cult scientists like economists for instance start off assuming people are without agency. Because they think that's what you do with science. They are both wrong and stupid.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#35One thing I've been considering is the existence of the 401k or basically the Bogle strategy as a whole. Both expect yearly gains over time, due to increasing amounts going into the pools.
But what happens when the elders start drawing down that money, and there isn't a base to replace it?
Going forward, we could actually see such values shrink, I think? The uber rich aren't Bogleheads, after all.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aging population, lower economic growth (less consumer demand for goods and services).
Less pollution, less global warming, lower use of resources, less conflict.
Counties with declining populations tend to become industrial catastrophes.
Japan and Fukushima come to mind. Russia does too.
Russia and Ukraine both have abysmal fertility rates. I don’t see less conflict there. Or between China and Taiwan.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#37Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it serious?
Aging population, lower economic growth (less consumer demand for goods and services).
Aging population per se isn't a problem, because better hygiene, lower child mortality and enough food creates the same effect.
Lower economic growth doesn't have to be. Fewer people means less supply on workforce means higher wages means higher purchasing power. The existing people would like to be more, but can't afford because of low wages. Fewer people will give them leverage.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#39Between four and six billion humans seems like a good target.
There were only 2.5 billion in 1950, since then automation has advanced leaps and bounds meaning an advanced lifestyle with fewer workers and less resource drain is entirely possible with a more sustainable population size.
Re: What Will the World Look Like with Less Babies?
#40Well I can't speak for anybody else, but me and my partner are pushing mid to late 30s and simply haven't got there because of cost and lack of financial stability. It's difficult to impossible to survive on a single income like my parents did to raise me, and the cost of childcare is the same as losing one income regardless. For better or worse the economy has been reshaped around the assumption of dual income, full…
You're right. My wife and I have done the math multiple times, and we'd actually -lose- money if she went back to work.
I remember childcare being rather communal in the US, where I lived, as recently as the early 90s. Now that the media and social media has turned everyone against each other, the only way out seemingly is to subsidize child care.