The author claims that poor women suffer a lack of opportunities to "marry up", but the majority of poor women have always married men from roughly the same soc

The author claims that poor women suffer a lack of opportunities to "marry up", but the majority of poor women have always married men from roughly the same social group. The men had to compete for the attention of the women by demonstrating reliability, consistent earning power, lack of vices, and so on. The difference is that now there is a new competitor that few lower-class men can compete with: Government. True, marrying the government means that Dad will spend all his time at work, but he'll always provide for the family, never leave you for another woman, never get laid off, never come home drunk and beat you for fooling around with another man.... He'll be fine with you fooling around with other men--in fact, he'll raise any children that might result without complaint. He'll be an utterly patient, undemanding, loyal and dependable husband and father, if a bit distant. Those losers hanging around talking trash with their buddies just can't compete with government for women's long-term attention. The better suitor government becomes, the more women choose to marry up by marrying government. And men don't need to marry to get sex. Women married to government all have open marriages, and if he's not married, nobody will limit his range of options by demanding loyalty. He can get more of what he wants while giving less. And it's not as if a man's neighbors will shame him for abandoning his girlfriend with his children, plunging them into poverty. No, government will take better care of them than he ever would have, so everyone knows she'd be worse off if he DID marry her. I'm not suggesting taking vast segments of society who have been assured since birth that they would never have the responsibility to support themselves (much less others), and cutting off their life support. It would be a nightmare, and it brings up all sorts of other questions about people competing with automation and other economic changes that can't be blamed on government. But it's amazing how much the author writes about the economic calculus of marrying without ever mentioning the still-growing 800lb government participant in the marriage market.