Covid: From boom to bust - why lockdown hasn't led to more babies By Stephanie Hegarty SOURCE: BBC

"In June last year economists at the Brookings Institute in the United States estimated that US births would fall by 300,000 to half a million babies. At the same time a survey of fertility plans in Europe showed 50% of people in Germany and France who had planned to have a child in 2020 were going to postpone it. In Italy 37% said they had abandoned the idea altogether. A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report indicates an 8% drop in births in the month of December."

America is quietly reinventing itself by Joel Kotkin SOURCE: Spiked

"Tech-company relocations pose a particular challenge to Silicon Valley. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, part of the Bay Area’s foundational tech economy, has moved to Houston. Meta – which despite its current problems, should not be counted out – has reportedly purchased 33 floors in downtown Austin. And Apple continues to expand in Austin’s suburbs. Tesla is also building its new factory in Austin."

Israeli kibbutz: Communal idealism or a privileged few? SOURCE DE

 

U.S. Baby Bust Fears Inspire a Radical Policy Proposal [the fertility dividen] by Ronald Bailey FROM reason.com

Why You and Your Mother-in-Law May Not Get Along BY Madeleine A Fugère Ph.D. FROM Psychology Today

Japan’s millennial men don’t drink, don’t drive, don’t worship work – what do they do? by Julian Ryall FROM South China Morning Post

Why There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays By Frank T. McAndrew FROM LiveScience

J.D. Vance: America's forgotten working class FROM TED Talk

Another way to frame his questions is to ask how much of the next generation's future should be left up to luck.

The Cyberanthropology of Infidelity | Noel Biderman | FROM TED Talk

Millennials Who Are Thriving Financially Have One Thing in Common … Rich parents. by Gillian B. White FROM The Atlantic

Some data from the article about America's youth:

• Around 30 percent of young people are living with their parents
• "46 percent of Millennials who pursued post-secondary education (that’s everything from associates degrees to doctorates), about 61 percent received some financial help with their educational expenses from their parents."
• "According to Zillow, 43 percent of Millennials who got help from their parents in paying for school were also able to become homeowners. According to Census data the homeownership rate for all young adults was about 36 percent in 2014."

Japan's Solution To Lack Of Sex: A "Handsome" Tax by Tyler Durden FROM Zero Hedge

Paul Taylor: Millennials are the Most Cautious Generation We've Ever Seen FROM Big Think

Daddies Are the New Mommies By Sheelah Kolhatkar FROM Businessweek

Why Does Having a Son Reduce the Likelihood of Divorce? by Satoshi Kanazawa FROM Psychology Today

"The evolutionary psychological logic therefore predicts that the continued presence of (and investment by) the father is important for the sons, but not as much for the daughters."

THE LINK SHOULD WORK NOW! 

Asia’s next revolution FROM The Economist

http://www.economist.com/node/21562195

Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan, Ph.D. FROM Psychology Today

"With a few notable exceptions, the measured effect of upbringing on adult outcomes is small to zero."

Police: "It was a solid move" for flight attendant to take child FROM CNN

"Police took the child into their custody at the gate, performed a welfare check and determined there were no signs of physical abuse, Jiron said."

Raising a Child Costs Some $221,000, Before College BY Nancy Gibbs FROM Time

"The government can't begin to measure the hidden costs, of course, of sleep or sanity or solitude. It fails to factor in marginal expenditures on window-repairing, rug-cleaning, photo-processing, cell phones, sedatives."

[CORRECTED] China's concubine culture is back By Stephen Wong FROM Asia Times

"With the advent of economic modernization and capitalistic values in China, an undercurrent of sexual liberation and material decadence has also emerged, resulting in the return of concubines and an increase in extra-marital infidelity."

Is an Ugly Baby Harder to Love? by Jeffrey Kluger FROM Newsweek

"It's never been a secret that beautiful people get more breaks than everyone else, nor that the bias may start in the nursery. An oft cited — and deeply disturbing — Israeli study once showed that 70% of abused or abandoned children had at least one apparent flaw in their appearance, which otherwise had no impact on their health or educability."