I think we will see a large US population decrease over our lifetime if the middle class continues to be squeezed.
The single income supporting - 4 kids, a house, cars, and annual vacations is a distant memory. We are firmly in a two-income economy without any pathways to affordable childcare or elder care. It is unlikely that we would ever sink our money into kids. We watched our parents have kids they couldn’t afford out of pressure from boomers. They now haven’t saved enough for retirement and likely will work until they die or be impoverished.
I think we will see a large US population decrease over our lifetime if the middle class continues to be squeezed.
The single income supporting - 4 kids, a house, cars, and annual vacations is a distant memory. We are firmly in a two-income economy without any pathways to affordable childcare or elder care. It is unlikely that we would ever sink our money into kids. We watched our parents have kids they couldn’t afford out of pressure from boomers. They now haven’t saved enough for retirement and likely will work until they die or be impoverished.
We're already at population decreasing levels. We're not Japan bad, but we're bad.