It's not unusual for the birth rate to decline in a bad economy. But what has baffled some is the fact that even before last year's full-on Wall Street meltdown, a fall-off in the number of pregnancies had already begun.
Was this some kind of parents-to-be intuition? Are fertile couples to recessions like small pets to the moments just before an earthquake -- that is, skittish and panicky and diving for cover?
No.
This wonderment at the prescience of baby-makers is a bit annoying. Do demographers not remember what it was like, pre-Bear Stearns collapse?
Let's remind them.
Already, there were layoffs. The housing bubble had long since burst in many areas -- only the National Realtors Association was still sending around press releases saying all was well. Anybody living in suburbs and not under a rock knew that foreclosures were on the rise and that George W. Bush was in total denial and that John McCain declaring the economy "fundamentally sound" made even his most ardent detractors feel embarrassed on his behalf.
Remember gas prices? And groceries! Remember how expensive food got all of the sudden? You have to feed kids and a 25 percent increase in one's food bill before adding another mouth makes one stop to think. You know?
From the Associated Press:
The number of babies increased only 0.9 percent between July 2007 and
July 2008, a sharp drop from the record-setting 2.7 percent growth for
the preceding year. The numbers hint at the tantalizing notion that
America's family planners outperformed its financial planners in
predicting the rough economic times.
Living in the real world has its advantages.
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