Suppose the mid 20s waitress finds a guy who marries her... and divorces her a few years later. Is she in a better position now? Now she is in mid 30s, with no money, no job experience, and a child -- that doesn't work well neither at job market nor at dating market.
I am not disagreeing with you here; just saying that traditional strategies worked more reliably in traditional environment. I wanted to add that today they probably work well among religious people... but then I remembered a few divorced religious people I know.
If the society stayed the same way it is now for a few centuries (which is unlikely to happen; either we get full automation, or we run out of oil), new traditions would probably develop, better fit to the new conditions.
In my opinion, the lesson that many middle-class people miss today, is that just because you have money to spend, you should not spend it all. I would recommend that people who don't have children yet, save 50% of their income, if they can afford it. Because that means that when two such people marry, they can now live on 100% of one income, keep exactly the same economical level they are used to, and have as many children as they want to.
I assume the real reason for low birth rates is the combination: some people don't want to have kids, some people would like to have more kids but they can't afford to. Having the former would not be a problem, if the latter could compensate for it; for one pair without kids, another pair would have 4, and everyone would be happy.
I am not disagreeing with you here; just saying that traditional strategies worked more reliably in traditional environment. I wanted to add that today they probably work well among religious people... but then I remembered a few divorced religious people I know.
If the society stayed the same way it is now for a few centuries (which is unlikely to happen; either we get full automation, or we run out of oil), new traditions would probably develop, better fit to the new conditions.
In my opinion, the lesson that many middle-class people miss today, is that just because you have money to spend, you should not spend it all. I would recommend that people who don't have children yet, save 50% of their income, if they can afford it. Because that means that when two such people marry, they can now live on 100% of one income, keep exactly the same economical level they are used to, and have as many children as they want to.
I assume the real reason for low birth rates is the combination: some people don't want to have kids, some people would like to have more kids but they can't afford to. Having the former would not be a problem, if the latter could compensate for it; for one pair without kids, another pair would have 4, and everyone would be happy.