Nothing about our current economy is helping this. Education: University education is already pricing out many hopefuls. Part-time education is happening becau

Nothing about our current economy is helping this. Education: University education is already pricing out many hopefuls. Part-time education is happening because students need to balance income from a job and school responsibilities. Unless we are going to do something drastic about educational costs, this remains a blocker. So I would restate, "The US desperately needs to address education costs." Historically a "financially established husband" was made capable because wages and costs of living were not at odds as they are today. The modern push for contractor/gig work to avoid the high costs of employee benefits means that nobody in the family unit is going to be financially established, even working two jobs (or more). Adding a child and the necessary leave moves that family into an irrevocable financial situation. So I would rephrase: "Historically we resolved these conflicts with a living wage". The problem statement then is that the current economic environment and lacking protection of workplace security during and after pregnancy needs to be fixed. Net-net, as a growing trend, we are on a path of reducing American citizens to business growth objects. Maximize recurring income (rent, not buy), reduce expenditures (lower wages, fewer/no benefits), reduce time to market (lower educational standards/on-line degrees/script-driven labor work with minimal training), increased business flexibility (use contracting companies to avoid responsibility of employee welfare and continuity). There are many others, but if we treat humans as business and are short-sited, you arrive at this scenario--baby-making isn't good business. Governments have the responsibility for long-term planning and national security, not corporations. I would absolutely argue that birthrates are a matter of national security (security in this case being the security of the dollar). If there isn’t governmental transformation to help with the above, this will only get worse.