Nah. It's common knowledge the birth rate fell during the Great Depression because of the economy. It would be a short jump to conclude the same thing is happening now, as this is the worst times we've had since then.
That's the funny part. We have been brainwashing our youth to avoid getting married and having children. What did we expect to happen? I don't know why people are so against exponential growth. That is what our species does. Without it there is no economic system that can sustain us. People have been saying we will run out of food for centuries now and yet we continue to prosper. We need to be encouraging college graduates to start families. Instead we change tax law to make health care more expensive for married couples. If we don't do something soon Europe and the United States will look very different in 50 yeas.
Damn it! This is the generation that's gonna be paying my social security What do you got to do to get Americans nailing each other again?
The projections are looking dismal. Looks like another failed social expieriment. The current labor structure with employees being fired at will with no 20-30 year stabilty mindset. Job jumping is a way of lilfe for most of the professional white collar workers. At the furthest end of the spectrum for global demographic data Japan is looking for people to reside with in their borders. Brazilians are more than welcome to maintain residency there. Japan is a fully matured society. The US will reach the same point as will europe but at a slower pace. It is more of a cultural issue. Akuma
The United States still has a birthrate around 2. We are barely keeping our heads above water. Most European countries have already fallen under the replacement rate of 2.1. We still have the ability to keep from becoming extinct. Countries like Japan are sealed in their fate. Spread the word and change the trend.
A few things have to happen for the birth rate to go up: 1 - Education will have to be financed from something other than local property taxes. The current system incentivizes everyone to live in a high tax suburb to get their kids the best education, then retire to low tax places like Florida. This is a recipe for a) stupidity and b) the starving of public education systems that serve the two-thirds of citizens who can't afford homes in rich suburbs, forcing aspiring parents to part with a large part of their earnings for private education, which then has the further effect of decreasing their appetite for kids. 2 - Day care. No day care, no children. Very simple. Our current system with ridiculously inadequate day care facilities means most two income middle and upper middle class families will have one kid, and that's it. 3 - Family friendly tax structure. The first kid should get a double exemption, the second a one and a half times personal exemption off Federal income taxes. This will encourage two children families. All three have to be done. Any one of the above done without the other two will not get the result you need.
No matter what the region, parents I know pay $1k per kid for top quality daycare and preschool. I don't recall who said it, I believe it was Gates, but we need immigrants, highly skilled ones. I don't believe we need so many unskilled that earn low wages and are a drain on social welfare system. It was mentioned that when any student graduates from a top school they should be given a green card. I am inclined to agree. Don't forget there was a time in America when a mom could stay at home with her kids in nice middle class suburb.
One and three are directed towards getting us back to that situation in your last sentence for those who want it, which from my experience is anywhere from two thirds to three quarters of the population. Number two is for the yuppies. As for immigration, a growing and balanced economy needs both. Right now, we don't have either, but when things get back to something resembling normal, we should increase the numbers for both types of immigrants. We do let in a very very limited number of skilled folks, but we don't let anyone at all in who's unskilled, which is not remotely realistic.
US will soon be like Canada which at 1.54 will self-implode in T minus 10 years. However I have more faith in US (the land of the free )