I do not believe the fertility crisis is, at its core, about economic factors. Out of my 20 or so closest friends from Harvard, only two of us have kids at 30. These are all people in top 1-5% of income for their age bracket, extremely privileged wrt job security. They aren’t having kids, and it’s not because they are worried they can’t afford them. They are simply doing other things. They are traveling Europe, or flying to Vegas to see concerts, or focusing on their careers/personal interests/hobbies. They have too much they want to do “before kids”, so they are waiting. A lot of people in my peer group stuck in a kind of statis, trying to extend their 20s infinitely. “Millennials think they are still teenagers,” as Logo puts it. So I see the fertility crisis as more of a spiritual issue. People lack the desire to start families. And why would they when way, way more cultural weight is placed on things like personal growth and career achievement and “having fun”. It’s not high status to be a parent, in the way becoming a founder or a doctor or earning a PhD is. Economic uncertainty has always and will always exist. That’s not going to be what raises fertility rates. Fertility rates will go up when raising children becomes the default first priority, not a second or third priority that you “get to” after a bunch of personal achievements. This requires a fundamentally different cultural narrative that reorients people around a project that is bigger than themselves.

people i disagree with are unfortunately very naive and stupid and always argue for policies and outcomes that are totally unrealistic and will never happen.

in roald dahl’s charlie and the chocolate factory mr wonka ethnically cleanses the jungles of oompaloompaland, smuggling them to the UK to work in a factory, where they are jolly but maintain different cultural standards for the treatment of children, thus prefiguring—

worried about the kids I know a guy in his 20s, handsome, european, just out of college overseas. blue blood actually, rich, fit, funny as hell. but he's aimless and depressed. just moping around doing community theater after he lost his dad. hope things work out w/ his girl

>app for 'are we dating the same guy' >license and photo user verification >images stored in a public s3 bucket >complete with exif data mossad beeper plot for emotionally vulnerable women

Going to be funny if after 10 years of criticizing neoliberalism Gen Z says “Why can’t we just have cheap consumer goods and low interest rates?”

rolling up on a post to earn my thiel bucks and seeing all my blood boys in the replies already

ive been monitoring Cambodia and Thailand for months. this was no surprise to me. im monitoring countries that dont even exist yet. im on telegrams with generals whos names you cant pronounce.

places in the global chicago belt: toronto mexico city bogota/medellin melbourne osaka what else?

australian mcdonalds is writing content marketing like those super horny emoji copypastas that go around every time a major historical event happens now. you’re going to neeeed 😫 both hands 🫣 to pray 🙏🏼 on your knees 😳💦 for pope leo 🦁the XXX’s 🥵beneDICKtion 🍆