Birth Dearth About Values, Not Economics
Commentary
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that births in the USA reached another historic low in 2020.
For the sixth consecutive year, the birth rate dropped this time by 4 percent. The average annual drop in the five previous years was 2 percent.
The rate at which American women are having babies is way below the rate necessary to keep the population steady-state that is, for the population not to shrink.
A steady-state population requires a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman. In 2020, it was 1.64.
Needless to say, for politicians, there is no problem that does not have a government solution, and the birth dearth is no exception.
5 Reasons People Usually Make The Wrong Social Security Decisions forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Elder Care’s COVID Disaster
COVID-19 has been a disaster for the senior living industry, but we will not know what sort of disaster until long after the pandemic ends.
Is it a disaster like a train wreck or car crash, after which life will go on more or less as before for the survivors? Or is it a Hindenburg-style terminal event for the industry as a whole?
It may have been terminal for at least one project. A few weeks ago, my Fort Lauderdale, Florida condominium board reported that it was approached by the developers of a proposed senior living project next door, for which ground had not yet been broken when the pandemic arrived. The developers told our board that they would seek permission to abandon the elder care aspects of the high-rise project, converting it to a conventional luxury rental apartment tower.