The survey's findings failed to sound any alarm bells in my mind ...

Well get your nose out of the present and take a historical perspective. The situation reflected here is identical to that in Europe 30 years ago. Now all of Europe except Spain is in the middle of committing demographic suicide, reproducing at below-replenishment levels. Some countries, e.g., Greece, have passed the point of no return, according to some demographers.

Who is going to pay the taxes to keep the European social safety net afloat? Will we, like Europe, have to import labor from Third World countries and force them to live in poverty-stricken fringe cities just to keep our economy going? Europe is being overrun by Muslims precisely because they are not reproducing enough of their own people.

As one demographer said, in 30 years Italy will be like Disneyworld version of Italy: it'll have Italian architecture and Italian names, but very few actual Italians will live there.

Wake up, you moron! You're so concerned about your present happiness, as apparently are most Americans, that you don't see what you're doing to the world as a result.

Remember how same-sex couples shouldn't have marriage equality because marriage is about having children (never mind all the different-sex married couples to whom that doesn't or can't apply or that same-sex couples have children all the time)?

Not so much, it seems.

Happily, it gets tougher and tougher to be an anti-marriage equality bigot everyday.

This appeared two days ago in my local paper and it just about made my head explode. I especially liked this line:

"The popular culture is increasingly oriented to fulfilling the X-rated fantasies and desires of adults. Child-rearing values -- sacrifice, stability, dependability, maturity -- seem stale and musty by comparison."

God made a special finger just for these people.

So, because my husband and I decided not to have children of our own, suddenly we're living an X-rated fantasy devoted to our own desires? We've been taking care of each other for 14 years while we held jobs we believe in, but we aren't stable, dependable, or mature?

And we aren't allowed to consider our marriage happy because we don't have kids?

The sound you hear is childless people all across America blowing raspberries at these assholes.

isn't Abraham Maslow's heirarchy of human needs a predictor or the very things that this posting cites. Maslow's heirarchy seems to say that our society has evolved to the point where all of the other human needs have been met. We take for granted physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging (tribe, society, etc,) the need for esteem (within the tribe). These things having been met, what remains is self-actualization.

... should also walk around with an "I'm an Idiot" card hanging around his neck.

...should be forcefully sterilized!

Marriages with fewer cildren is great news for the environment, and is unselfish. We don't all have to reproduce ourseleves.

When are we going to start talking about populton control in regard to the envronment. Of course many people would have to find something else to talk about besdies thier children.

But haven't some studies found that the happiest marriages are in fact childless?

The unidentifed person gave a distorted historical perspective.

Producing babies in panic has always been an alarm cry of the patriarhcal conservatives.

Historically it has however been proven that those individuals who over produce generally are not aa well of financially off an put a strain on resources. So it stands to reason those who limit their reproduction, will be better off finnancially, thus able to suport the population with thier taxes. In addition fewer people means less strain on resources spent, and a healther in environment. Many jobs ahve been replaced by technology, so we do not need as many people. The real strain put on any society is over reproductiion. The human poplulation went forth and over multiplied far beyond our needs. We need to stop the crazy cycle.

I had to laugh when the first Anon said that disaster is around the corner if we don't keep our birth rate up and, scrolling down, I found another Anon saying that to quote Maslow is foolish. I am not attacking the right to use Anonymous rather than a user name, but I have a funny feeling this is the same Anon in each instance.

Why? Because God forbid people should seek to satisfy their heirarchy of needs and put their own foolish desires before demographic considerations and the needs of the state.

I feel that on no account should people be having children to satisfy the government and boost the economy. Children should be wanted. They should have parents who care to put their needs FIRST as long as they cannot reasonably fend for themselves. (Up to age 18) This is called responsible parenting. If, for some reason, people do not want children or decide that they are fine as a couple, this does not mean they are bad people. It means that they have looked at their relationship, their situation, and their desires and made an intelligent decision.

Whether they are enjoying an X-rated lifestyle, who can say? I certainly hope they are enjoying their lives. As someone who was a longtime "single" parent after my divorce and who can speak to those particular hardships, I suspect that couples who do not have children probably have a better sex life and a much nicer retirement fund. Wild nights and a nice retirement fund! What a national tragedy! I feel almost envious.

Maybe the strident Anonymous will give those folks a little credit for the nice retirement fund and for making a greater contribution to the national treasury when they pay their taxes.

If you are going to discuss having children or not in the context of population control and what is 'good for the environment', then you have to include killing off all the seniors. It is not the number of babies that will break the economy in this country, it is the number of retired boomers.

I seem to remember reading that marital happiness takes a dip around the second or third year after the birth of a child. Whether or not it goes up again, I don't know.