shood i have anotha babay?

hahaha what do you think?
Can we ever expect happier days ahead? I want anotha dammit!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-falling-birth-rate-big-155818944.html



It sounds like one of those stories you can safely ignore: The U.S. birth rate has hit a record low, led by a big drop in the portion of immigrant women having babies.
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This development doesn't directly affect anybody, since it's one of those long-term societal trends that occurs in small increments and doesn't change the unemployment rate, the price of gas, the direction of the stock market or any of the big economic forces that make our lives better or worse today. And since the trend is strongest among immigrants, it sounds like maybe this is something happening in a shadowy part of the economy that doesn't matter all that much.

But it does matter, and if the trend persists, it could mean lower living standards for most Americans in the future.

It may seem intuitively obvious that a slower-growing or declining population is good for the economy, especially when you think about starving children in poor parts of the world where there's not enough food for everybody. In places where resources are severely limited--and economic policies are dysfunctional--it may be true that a growing population is a bad thing.

But that's usually because such economies are static, and instead of creating wealth they typically just divide up what's already there. That's not the situation in America, which has a dynamic economy that creates wealth and more than enough resources for all of its citizens.

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On the contrary, one of the great strengths of the U.S. economy, especially compared to Europe and Japan, is a relatively high birth rate, which keep the population young, on average, and population growth robust. "Everybody comes into world with one mouth and two hands," says economist Donald Boudreaux of George Mason University. "It's generally true that most people produce more than they consume."
A growing population is good for the economy when rising productivity continually reduces the amount of resources required to produce a given amount of output. Even now, with the U.S. economy in a rut and too many people out of work, productivity is rising, which means a larger population would generate more wealth per person than a smaller one. Boudreaux points out that Manhattan, one of the mostly densely populated places in America, is also one of the wealthiest, whereas rural states like Mississippi are sparsely populated, and much poorer.

The sizeable drop in the U.S. birth rate, reported recently by the Pew Research Center, has probably occurred because of the struggling economy. Though Pew didn't investigate the reasons behind the decline, birth rates tend to rise and fall based on how optimistic or pessimistic people feel. The U.S. birth rate peaked in 1957 (hence the "baby boom" generation), when the economy was booming and the unemployment rate was about 4.5 percent. It sagged in the 1970s, when inflation and other problems battered U.S. workers. The birth rate stabilized in the 1980s and stayed more or less level, until starting to dip again in 2008.

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Since then, younger Americans have been waiting longer to get married, often because of economic difficulties. Married couples may be waiting longer to have kids, or having fewer kids, for the same reason. While the trends are more pronounced among immigrants, they're occurring throughout the U.S. population.

These types of demographic trends get the attention of economists when big changes might raise or lower the economy's capacity to grow--which could be happening now. Fewer marriages and fewer children lower the rate of household formation, which means people spend less on everything from appliances to clothing. "Fertility rates have plunged, and that will have an impact on future consumer spending," says Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economists at forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.

That trend could reverse itself if the economy picks up for good and Americans become convinced that happier days lie ahead. But for now, a dearth of babies and a limp economy may be reinforcing each other. A few more babies would be good for business.

Crap! Quick! Everyone procreate!

LOL I read that earlier today, made me consider having another but we have 2 boys and if I got another boy I would be mad. So I am done 

Well, I know like 12 people who are pregnant, including me. Should be going up in a few months!

Quoting Love = Moco and Bubba:" LOL I read that earlier today, made me consider having another but we have 2 boys and if I got another boy I would be mad. So I am done "

lol

Lol I should tell my husband this. Like SEEE if we have another baby we are helping the future of America!!!! Haha.

Don't show my mom this! She's already on my ass about grandbabies

Hm.. I'm preggo with my second and know lots of other preggo people... lol

I did my part for the economy! I gave birth in August, my uterus is closed for now, if not forever.

Once I finsh school ( well get back on our feet really) I will be having 2 more kids! 4 is enough right?

Quoting Peyton'sMommy♥:" Lol I should tell my husband this. Like SEEE if we have another baby we are helping the future of America!!!! Haha."

!!! That is what I was thinking!

I think it's pretty sad that it's no longer possible to have a big family in this country unless you're well-off or wealthy. It's really sad that the cost of living is more expensive than material objects.

ETA: I want another baby but 4 years from now. Not because of finances but because staying home with 2 kids sucks lol.

OP, you should change the title of your thread. You would get more responses.

As for the OP, the American fertility rate is about 2.5 per American women, or two or three children per woman. That is the IDEAL rate. Enough to replace ourselves without overpopulation.

As it stands, I haven't had any children yet. I believe in quality over quantity. I would rather have three WELL taken care of children than ten barely clothed, poorly educated ones. With my future salary, I would only be able to afford AT MOST four, but most likely will only have three. Children are ridiculously expensive.

Quoting Back to Noob Status:" OP, you should change the title of your thread. You would get more responses. As for the OP, the American ... [snip!] ... salary, I would only be able to afford AT MOST four, but most likely will only have three. Children are ridiculously expensive."

While I agree with this-- I'm fairly certain if we were using our resources properly we wouldn't be close to overpopulation.

I think it's also something to note that, not all of course, but many wealthy families who could afford to have many children choose to have one, or two. I'm not sure what that means, but it's interesting, for sure.

This is stupid. If there are fewer babies then there is less need for the entire country to be spending outrageous amounts of money. When they have more money to themselves they are more likely to spend it on other things. People don't just stop spending money when they have less kids. They just spend it on other things. More babies is not a good thing. It costs the taxpayers more and it smurfs up our ecosystem more.