4 ms·
Yeah, because the fact that the average young American can barely support one person, let alone two + child, on a basic income can't have anything to do with th
by numair 12y ago
Yeah, because the fact that the average young American can barely support one person, let alone two + child, on a basic income can't have anything to do with the reduction in marriages...
- thret 12y agoPlus the expense of the ring, the wedding, the honeymoon. People put it off until it can be done 'right'.
- _delirium 12y agoAn interesting trend in Greece, where due to the economic crisis many people can't afford to "properly" get married, is that it's become common to get a simple civil-ceremony marriage, with an intent to get a "real" marriage (church ceremony, reception, photos, etc.) sometime later. That may or may not eventually happen, but it seems universal that people at least theoretically consider it their plan (the civil paperwork-signing isn't culturally considered a "real" wedding). Not getting married at all is also increasingly common, but many people choose the in-between option of a legal marriage without the ceremony. The plus side is that you get the legal benefits even while waiting to plan the "real" wedding (things like medical visitation rights, joint property ownership, etc., become simpler).
- imaginenore 12y agoWhat does this have to do with being married? It's not like if you marry, you have to have children and have to pay more. If two people make A and B amounts of money, they still make A+B together, married or not.
- archgoon 12y agoTaxes actually favor single income families. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_penalty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_penalty
- baddox 12y agoI assumed that the majority of couples with children (married or not) have both worked for at least a few decades. I'm not sure why an average decrease in purchasing power relative to costs of living, if that has even occurred, would cause a reduction in marriages. I would expect a reduction in birth rate, or at least a birth rate distributed differently to income, but not necessarily a reduction in marriages.
- prostoalex 12y agoThe economic necessity argument actually speaks in favor of marriage - a bachelor has one bare income, but with a spouse there's a possibility of a dual-income household.