Has the system finally cracked? Have the wealthy and powerful simply taken so much leaving the rest of us grasping at our very survival, easily manipulated into turning against other groups and even each other in an attempt to make sense of it all? Is society destined to destroy itself or descend into eternal servitude to our masters? How do we get out of this spiral of madness?
Birthrates are falling because education and wealth are rising. Both trends strongly correlate with smaller families. Besides, most don’t need 10 kids to work the farm any longer.
I also wonder if a bit of the “no kids” thing isn’t really a case of sour grapes. Young people are less social, less sexually active, more socially anxious, all that. Not blaming them, they got dealt a weird hand of cards.
FFS, people were fucking and making babies in WWII ravaged Europe. Think they saw a bright future?