Women aren’t pumping out enough babies. The birthrate is below the replacement rate in countries across the world. It’s not a good situation. A society can’t survive with too many old people playing MahJong in the Villages and not enough young people producing wealth. The declining childbirth rate is already impacting colleges and public education.

With the rising costs of housing, persistent student loan debt, and heavy childcare costs, it’s no wonder that couples are postponing babies indefinitely. Many say they cannot afford to have children.

Conservative groups are proposing ideas to encourage women to have more babies. But their ideas are laughably insufficient. You can’t put a down payment on a half-million-dollar house in the Jersey suburbs with a $5,000 “cash bonus” after childbirth. To maintain an acceptable quality of life in a society with fewer resources, young people are making the rational decision to forgo children.

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