2 ms·

> Living in a tiny apartment in a questionable neighborhood makes people say later I think people had more kids in far worse conditions than this in the past.

> Living in a tiny apartment in a questionable neighborhood makes people say later I think people had more kids in far worse conditions than this in the past. So it's not unthinkable. But I think what we're seeing is a decline in living standards in relative terms. People want their kids to have a life at least as good as their own childhood and that's becoming out of reach for many as housing, healthcare, and education become unaffordable.

colechristensen 4y ago
Sure, in the past. It's not the past. In the past having children was also an econnomic benefit because they'd help you with your livelihood. "People used to have children while living in squalor, why aren't they choosing this now?!" isn't a convincing argument. So much of the cost of living is just based on housing inflating everything else. Middlemen got in the way realizing that housing isn't elastic and people will just pay. Especially when you can convince people that house prices are going to inflate so get in now and get yours! The only way out is to eject the leeches from the real estate market and intentionally drop housing prices significantly keeping policy in place to keep the investors out. If it doesn't happen intentionally, it's going to happen anyway when population decline leaves housing empty. That crisis is coming one way or the other. Maybe it'll end up being something like the old Roman bailout where the state would just cancel all debts.