DavidRescinded
16266
445
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Apr 1, 2026 2:19 PM
DavidRescinded
16266
445
10
cosmicspacedog
I wanted a family. I wanted one so bad, but I knew I’d have no actual means to properly care for them.
Vamp13
id wager to say most people would have more kids if it wasnt for living in crippling poverty. like kids? have you seen my mortgage payment and my paycheck? i dont have room for bacon how the fuck do i make room for a whole other mouth?
Darkspire
Maybe when the country isn't run by baby eating pedophiles?
catsociety
me and my partner dont live in the us but are currently debating if we take a small 1 bedroom flat and be able to afford a vacation a year or max out or loan and buy a bigger apartment to have a child but wont be able to afford close to anything else (both of us have an above average pay). Something in the system isnt working at ALL
BIC777
This needs to be world wide. Too many humans.
kurvarVillain
NeverDownvoteMelBrooks
Can't imagine why
UmmonPrime
With things going in the wrong direction in this country, no shit the birth rates are down. In a booming economy, more people can afford kids. FIX THE DAMN COUNTRY YOU GREEDY BASTARDS!!!
meganical
Welp, I’m certainly one of the 50%
Thanks, American conservatives for showing me how messed up my country truly is and how much worse you’re going to make it in the future. Maybe you would’ve helped us believe we have worth if you didn’t choose an orange felon/rapist with the IQ of a toddler over a highly-educated female prosecutor with zero scandals. Or maybe if you didn’t take back our rights to control our uteruses, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
mak10z
who wants to bring crotch spawn in to this doomed world? Ah yes child, gestures to burning hellscape that was once a city / forest / lake shore. This is the world we wanted you to grow up in.
BestofUwU
The baby boom was an abnormal event caused by the entire world going to war. Supporting aging boomers by continuing to increase the population at the same rate was never going to work. The earth can't keep up with the pollution the current population is creating.
burentsu
I mean... *gestures vaguely at everything*
icannotthinkofanyrationalname
As a man, if I was in my twenties right now, and seeing the hell-hole that our country has become, I wouldn't want to father any kids. I have young adult children, and I don't see any of them becoming parents. I am old enough now that I don't see the political or economic conditions in the US improving before I die. And that makes me sad. I thought the late 1960s and 1970s were bad, but this is worse.
JohnSmithterms
Yeah I really wish I did not already have children. Not because of them but because of this world I live in. We are wage slaves. Tax the rich like we did between 1944 and 1963 where they had to pay 90% on their top income band. Until that happens and my boss keeps taking home 13 million a year I consider our species hopeless. Let alone the war which should go without saying. But the thing that drives the war is capitalism and greed. Fuck the rich. Eat them.
DavidRescinded
I have some hope that once the baby boomers die off and they are not in positions of power anymore, maybe some things will change.
JohnSmithterms
Unfortunately my grandfather was warning me about this 25 years ago. So the next generation after him just took over with some good old nepotism. And the next generation will 100% be doing the same thing unless we unite and educate everyone that the problem is the rich and the problem is unfettered capitalism and the banking system. But dont get the wrong idea I think democratic, socialist centric, capitalism + HEAVY regulation deteremined by the people is the best current solution.
SacrificialClam
"Now" child free? What did they do with the children they had?
LegendofSleek
Pardon me for answering the rhetorical question- but even if you're not authentically asking someone might actually have the question. It's not that women at 30 have at scale misplaced their children; it's that "30 year old women," refers to a different group of women every year and the people we call 30 year old women "Now" are less likely to have had a child than the previous cohort.
Again, sorry if you already knew that and were just taking the piss. But y'know- Poe's Law.
RubberMonkeys
Maybe if the capitalists hadn't been destroying the country for the last forty years for their sole benefit there'd be more consumers to buy their shit. That's something I've never understood about our oligarchs, wouldn't you want or need the populace to have as much purchasing power as possible to keep their money machines printing.
qPRdxH4UXm36HS9rJgLA
They want humanoid robots to be there slaves.
bekkayya
our oligarchs are next quarter oligarchs. they'd happily burn a productive trillion to get a million. next quarter is some other oligarch's problem. cant even have decent oligarchs in this economy smh head
iamthemurray
They have over consolidated in their pursuit of controlled authoritarian capitalism. It didn't occur to them it would be a problem because the "number kept going up"
mksu
I need you to understand that the people with the money are genuinely some of the stupidest people on Earth.
EllisTomago
Maybe if our society was not so predatory and hostile, more women would feel safer having children.
Donfolstar
The people most worried about this and the people causing this are the same people.
Casually
Good. I can not think of any real problem we are facing that having more people on the planet would help.
FrankGrenadine
I guess youre not planning to retire?
Casually
I am but I have never factored in social security into that equation. Even though I am much closer now I still don't trust that it will be there and stay there.
FrankGrenadine
It’s not just social security. Retirement —> living off next generation’s labor. This can be indirect (eg investing in a company, which employs younger people, and using proceeds to pay other younger people to care for you). But someone’s gotta do the work!
meganical
Rich people: but what about our businesses run mostly on slave labor?
Salticido
I thought they fired them and replaced them with AI? 🤔
GratuaCuun
I'm a guy and I sure ain't having kids - I can barely afford this moppet
riverpubby
That’s a lovely looking moppet you have there tho
GratuaCuun
Her name is Gabby cause she chirps so much
riverpubby
Oh she’s precious,,,
GratuaCuun
She looks so proud xD
I couldn't get a picture of her tearing the garland off or sitting on the skeletons laps - but she held still for that ONE SHOT and it just made me melt
riverpubby
Thats so cute 😭
LanceSackless
To be fair many countries have struggled to convince people of childbearing age to get pregnant. Not having children is nice and there’s only so much you can do to convince someone they actually do want kids. The best thing you can possibly do is make it as easy as possible for those that want and can to handle pregnancy and raise kids
Salticido
Loads of people want kids all on their own. We don't need to convince them. Surveys still show this to be true in the US. We just need to, as you say, make it as easy as possible for them, which we aren't even close to doing.
LanceSackless
Maybe i wasnt as clear as i meant to be. I mean in countries that have way better parental and child support they are still not hitting the birthrate metrics they want/need. When people have enough control over their ability to have kids theres just an amount of them that simply choose not to. Theres not much you can do to convince those people to actually have kids
Salticido
That's fair. It just sounded like you were saying *most* people don't want kids no matter what, which is not true in the US.
LanceSackless
When people have full autonomy over their family planning, less people decide to have kids than countries feel need to
Abizuil
*Than countries require to maintain a stable population without importing people from abroad.
FTFY
If the birthrate was at replenishment level (2.1), you'd not likely have governments panicking about it.
LanceSackless
If everyone everywhere gets their act together the world birthrate will likely drop below that threshold. Importing people will only work for so long. It would be better to accept and plan that when a population is allowed full control over their reproductive rights, you’re gonna have less kids being born.
PinkEater
When ever this topic is mentioned I like to post this:
Berserk7891
Sorry I can't afford to start and raise a family because you know $ and I have close to zero if it.
drousnavat
You would think choking out young people financially to the point that they cannot even live with 3 incomes would make them want kids /s
xj4low
Well most single adults now live with a roommate or 2 to afford apartments. Wife and I can afford a rental home because we don't have kids but we are in our mid 40's so that ship has sailed.
Dannoboyo
Or at least two girlfriends.
DorgEndo
No no, 2 guys 1 girl. Gotta limit how many wombs are under the roof. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do
jammer909
My ex fiance got herself a polycule. She replace me with seven people, no joke. I can only assume that's how she makes the rent these days considering she could never hold a job.
TheMinisterOfCommonSense
Hey now, most retro gaming systems have 4 controllers, you need 3 girlfriends to play a proper game of mario party 7 or mariokart
Kenbamazingbutprobablywontbe
I like how America caused its own birth decline, and now it deported its solution.
meganical
Some of its solution. They welcomed white South Africans with open arms
FrankGrenadine
Rates are going down in other countries too. Immigration is awesome too but when, eg, Mexico has sub replacement fertility even better immigration policies won’t help reverse the decline
Kenbamazingbutprobablywontbe
No i just mean in America. The entire world population is at a tipping point the earth cant support 9bn humans. And there isnt enough resources. We will see massive declines as well because of the decline in sperm motility most likely from our food and water having contaminants like plastics.
FrankGrenadine
I was saying lower rates in other countries —-> fewer potential immigrants
Kenbamazingbutprobablywontbe
Yea i thought i covered that. I definitely have that in mind at least but yea. Less population = less immigration/emigration
KingOfTheImgurians
But... but... we've made everything so awful for parents and super expensive! Why won't anyone have kids anymore? I mean, c'mon, we've wrecked social services and schools, why don't people want kids? We've made it so that there's far fewer opportunities for kids to just be kids, why wouldn't you want to have children? Oh, and let's not forget that we have made sure that there's no safety net, so when your company lays you off, you're just ruined. Why don't you want a family?
UserNamesArentEasy
A message from those people.
Dannoboyo
Right back at ya, Chapelle.
Dannoboyo
First of all, they want to force white women to have more kids. But they also want more old people to die sooner, and they want to get rid of all brown skinned people, while putting most of the tax burden on the lower class. So what’s the problem anyway? Don’t you have boot straps? Perhaps you can get some after you are conscripted for military service. Would that be agreeable ? Just don’t expect any help from the VA though. That’s for suckers and losers.
curialis
Who could have possibly seen this coming?
ravensdaemon
The 30s something people that have been asking for better wages, better housing, better Healthcare, etc
lifeisadadjoke
AnythingMuchShorter
What? All they did is cut every program and funding that helps with kids in any way, including schools, health care, and food programs, and ruined the working class economy so people can barely support themselves as it is without kids. And they refuse to make parental leave mandatory, or even vacation or sick days. And housing is 4x as expensive as it was 40 years ago. Why not basically strap yourself to a few cinderblocks when you're already downing?
FrankGrenadine
Weirdly no one. I’m old enough to remember when everyone was worried about overpopulation
BadPunsAplenty
It doesn't sound like anyone is coming.
CJAW
Not inside, that's for sure
TimbiquiDarkThirty
UserNamesArentEasy
The younger generation pull out game is strong.
curialis
And butt-sex isn't really sex
GanjalfTheGray
Every US Politician: Birthrates in the US are dropping at alarming rates! What can we do to solve this problem?!
Every adult in the US: We need consistent jobs, to be paid wages that would allow us to afford a child, have health insurance, a roof over our heads, and food on the table.
Every US Politician: Well we're stumped on this one! I know, let's try cutting taxes for corporations and billionaires. And while we're at it, let's jack up the cost of living. That'll fix it!
teardropivyyearofthetiger
FREE CHILDCARE
yamsonyamsonyams
I wasn’t going to have kids until someone told me they spent $36,000/year on daycare for 2 kids
Then i said “I gotta get in on this!”
Howlingowl
Also Politicians: let’s take away constitutionally protected individual body rights and force accidental/unwanted and rape pregnancy on those who cannot afford to raise a child. Thus, solving the problem once and for all.
Darkspire
Oh I know, we'll jail women who miscarry! That will do it!
Bringer0fJoy
Immigration helps with birthrates too!
FrankGrenadine
Those are good policies for other reasons but birthrates are mostly falling globally even in places with affordable healthcare and a better safety net
GanjalfTheGray
Enlighten me.
How is cutting taxes for billionaires and corporations good policy?
FrankGrenadine
I didn’t say they were? I says that a strong social safety net was good but that it probably doesn’t help increase birth rate
LicensedAdHominem
This is why they want to make women into unwilling incubators.
thismyburnerbutyoucangetdigits
Yea but when you force the birth of children, with no plan to raise them, you get FASTER societal decline. I know WE know this I’m just saying. Pony up the cash and raise these kids or be a victim of their crimes in 15 years. Pretty simple.
AnythingMuchShorter
They could stop making just getting by so hard that people can barely keep themselves housed and fed, let alone kids, or quit cutting funding for schools, food programs and everything for kids. But they would rather ban birth control, abortion, sex ed, and anything else that gives people a choice.
antoinettehaupt2
I agree with everything that you’ve said. It’s fundamentally wrong to force a woman to take on a lifetime commitment by denying them usually accessible alternatives.
Yet…….. men are allowed contraception in the form of condoms or the free choice of vasectomy.
How is that fair?
DavidRescinded
I'm honestly not being snarky here, but who are "they" in this context?
MikeRInternetTraveler
Republicans and the billionaires that finance them
UserNamesArentEasy
Specifically white women.
DavidRescinded
I'm honestly not being snarky here, but who are "they" in this context?
lizardbones
the right-wing nuts. they said very clearly they needed to ban abortions to keep the number of babies being born high
DavidRescinded
Oh ok thanks. Yeah I agree. The conservative Christian Republicans do feel that we need to "increase and multiply." Here's my worry. Will america be full of conservative Christian Republicans in 20-30 years because liberal Democrats are not breeding at the higher rate that Conservatives are? Will they have super strong voting power in the future because of this?
UserNamesArentEasy
That's how Idocracy worked out and that was based on mild truths years ago. Which had only gotten worse as time has gone on.
TheWombatStrikesAgain
The alternative would be to make more women chose motherhood by making childbirth and care easier and cheaper, offering stuff like paid maternal leave, and generally creating a country you'd actually want to have kids in. Non-poisoned environment, schools that don't need active shooter drills, a president who doesn't rape children... all that fancy stuff.
But that made a lot of rich people very angry, so now it's forced birth instead.
Schm17ty
Stop asking for handouts!
(says the men who want sex, babies, childcare, housework, emotional support, a dowry, breakfast lunch & dinner, a side piece, and #1 Dad coffee cups… all handed to them)
thekeyofe
Because it's not ACTUALLY about the birthrate, it's about hanging onto power. All those things you listed would help normal people and might take away some power from the oligarchs, and we can't do anything which make take away power (even a tiny bit) from the oligarchs.
Jamesstin
You're right about elites wanting that but working class men who are against abortion simply froth at the mouth that a woman could have the ability to clearly state "you are the last man I'd ever want a child with" and it hurts their feelings too much. Men's insecurities about cheating and such is a deep wound they pretend to have but it's there regardless. It's why they want "demure" women aka passive women that won't stick up for themselves nor have standards about who they date/fuck.
GasolineRain
There has been a lot of anger from men who discover that women, once no longer obligated to choose a man to literally survive, often choose not to. They love to present everything like some sort of survival of the fittest free market type thing, and yet are mad that their product isn't competitive on the market and rage against the consumers for not buying. Turns out, you have to actually offer something beneficial if people aren't forced to be with you.
BarnegatLight
"Rapists can now choose the mother of their child."
lifeisadadjoke
Atwood has reminded us a few times that Handmaid's Tale was a cautionary story, not a fucking checklist.
LittleDragon
Idiocracy was supposed to be a satire, not a documentary of the future
DavidRescinded