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Americans Are Having Fewer Babies. That’s A Problem
Americans are choosing not to have children for a variety of reasons. Bloomberg reported on it like this…
Although the reasons for not having children vary sharply, the main one given by childless adults is simply that they don’t want any [at 56%]. Other reasons given include medical at 19% and financial at 17%. About 15% cite the lack of a partner, 10% said it was the age of their partner, and 9% blamed the state of the world. Roughly one in 20 cite environmental factors including climate change as the reason behind their desire to not have a child.
Among adults under 40 who are already parents, about one-quarter don’t expect to have more children due to the financial cost involved, while three in 10 say they’re too old.
While this news may be shocking to you, its not a surprise to me. In 2018, I researched the topic and asked the question, “Are dogs replacing children? Looks that way.” Check out the video below, to see how closely my prediction is matching today’s reality.
As you can see, I was correct in pointing out declining fertility. However, I was wrong in suggesting that pet adoptions will replace children. According to the latest stats, it is not the case. (I blame Covid for the trend turning around. With people returning to the office, pets are being returned in record numbers.)
But, I digress. America is not the only country with declining birth rates. Fox News pointed out 5 countries with similar issues, as recently as last year. To quote…
- According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, 2019 saw the lowest birthrate in China since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
- Italy retains one of the lowest fertility rates in the European Union, averaging 1.3 children per woman – lower than Europe’s average of 1.59.
- Fewer than a million babies were born in Japan last year, according to estimates from the country’s welfare ministry.
- Since 1999, Russia’s birthrate has increased from 1.16 children per women to 1.48. Though significant, the levels are not enough to sustain the population.
- In the first six months of 2019, Spain recorded its lowest birthrates since the early 1940s, according the country’s National Statistics Institute.
Historically, maintaining a healthy population number was a top concern among world powers for insuring economic and military might. As such, government and cultural pressures were used to persuade women to marry. Some were serious efforts and some were satirical by the pundits of the day. Can you figure out which ideas were a serious consideration?
Truth or Satire?
- If we tax bachelors and widows at a higher rate, they will get married to avoid paying higher taxes.
- Clever propaganda techniques can shame women into getting married.
- British virgins between 15 – 40 should be matched with husbands via a lottery system.
And the answer is…
Taxing bachelors and widows at a higher rate was actually initiated by the English government. To quote “The Conversation…”
So when the English government passed the Marriage Duty Act in 1695 to raise money to fight the French, it simultaneously addressed revenue needs and fertility concerns.
The marriage duty tax levied fees on births, marriages and deaths. But it also gave people an incentive to get married by taxing bachelors over the age of 25 and childless widowers. Women weren’t usually taxed because the government assumed men were largely behind the decline in marriage.
Using propaganda to shame women was also a real effort to encourage marriages. To quote “The Conversation again…”
Emerging at the same time as the marriage duty tax were the first literary and visual depictions of the “old maid” archetype, a portrayal of never-married women that was always disparaging.
A classic example is William Hogarth’s print “Morning” from his “Four Times of the Day” series. It features a censorious, unpartnered, unattractive woman who is deemed to be past her prime.
If you thought giving virgins away via lottery was a serious consideration, you would have likely been fooled in 1734 as well. A satirist proposed the ideas as if it were a legitimate piece of legislation but, it was satire. To quote “The Conversation yet again…”
1734’s “A Bill for a Charitable Lottery for the Relief of the Distressed Virgins in Great Britain” stated that “for the necessary encouragement of propagation, which we ought particularly to attend to upon the prospect of an approaching war, that all the Virgins in Great Britain from 15 to 40 should be disposed of [gotten rid of] by lottery.”
Although framed as prospective legislation, the proposed bill appeared in print only.
Traditionally, countries have been very reactive to declining birthrates. Will history repeat itself again? I’m not so sure. If you accept the globalist agenda, the world will be a very dystopic place by 2030. Here is a quick list.
- People will own nothing. Goods are either free of charge or must be lent from the state.
- The United States will no longer be the leading superpower, but a handful of countries will dominate.
- Organs will not be transplanted but printed.
- Meat consumption will be minimized.
- Massive displacement of people will take place with billions of refugees.
- To limit the emission of carbon dioxide, a global price will be set at an exorbitant level.
- People can prepare to go to Mars and start a journey to find alien life.
- Western values will be tested to the breaking point..
And there are some who believe that the world will be destroyed by 2030, literally, because of climate change.
Whether or not you or I subscribe to these doomsday perspectives is not the question. There may be enough people who do believe the worse that our country is in serious jeopardy of continuing.
And in case you doubt that other countries with declining birthrates are a problem for the United States, consider this scenario from Money Matters Academy.
According to an article in the July 23rd, 2014, issue of The Economist, Japan’s population is dropping by 1 million citizens each year. In a country with “only” 127 million people, if the trend continues (as it’s expected to) for even just 20 more years, this becomes more than a little problematic. The drop has led to predictions that in the next 25 years some 500 Japanese towns and villages will cease to exist as their aging inhabitants die off (and don’t get replaced by newborns).
But the impact of this shift isn’t only going to be felt in Japan. Economically, here in the United States, the issue is that Japan has the world’s 3rd largest economy, and at $70 billion per annum, it’s the 4th largest consumer of American goods, meaning that exports to Japan will certainly decrease in the coming years.
But while the economic outlook is problematic, there’s also geopolitical concerns. Consider that, militarily, a shrinking Japan is a weakened Japan, and as they represent our preeminent ally in the region—the Land of the Rising Sun is home to numerous U.S. military bases that are intended to serve as deterrents to rogue nations such as North Korea, and unpredictable ones such as Russia and China—so it’s not a stretch to say that Japan’s lessening economic might threatens the stability of the entire world.
And this is just one example from an ally. So, what’s the solution? Is it taxes, propaganda and virgin lotteries? No, I think all we need do is look at pro-family Hungary. To quote The Daily Caller…
“Hungary’s Constitution of 2011 is incredibly conservative and traditional by Western standards: it protects “the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” supports and promotes families, family systems, and caring for the elderly, bans eugenics and human cloning, and recognizes life from conception.”
The Daily Caller quoted the Hungarian minister of family affairs – Katalin Novak, who said…
“So that means that the more children you have, the less personal income tax you pay, it’s as simple as that. And if you are a mother with four children then you are completely exempt for personal income tax, so lifelong, you don’t have to pay any personal income tax ever in your life, once you have four children.”
Novak also said…
“You can also teach mathematics by pointing out family values or by discrediting families,” she said. “You want to teach the kids how to count, and you say, for example, ‘You are the only child in the family and your parents get divorced and they have this amount of money, how do you share it between the three of you or between the two of them?’ That’s mathematics. Or you say that you are in a family with five children, you have a birthday cake, and you have to share it among the seven. And how would you share it? It’s also mathematics.”
“So I think the importance is that you have this pro-family attitudes or mindset be reflective in each and every field of our lives and not just the traditional ones,” she added.
I think Hungary has the right idea that will be proven over time; countries that push a pro-family agenda will thrive long-term. In fact, they may be the ones to save the human race from extinction, should the dystopian forecasts fall flat and the world continues beyond 2030. Time will tell.
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