On the second point, the successful penetration of family planning into the western world means that most people do not have children until they can support the

On the second point, the successful penetration of family planning into the western world means that most people do not have children until they can support them. So it is actually worse to lose income and go down to income level X than to have only been at income level X (and for a shorter amount of time) because someone in the first situation has likely had kids by now whereas someone in the second situation hasn't. And at the risk of stating the obvious, it is in society's best interest to support families, because children are literally the next generation and everything will quickly collapse if it becomes economically untenable for most to have children. So society has to set itself up in a way that promotes the ability for most people to have and support families.