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Guest Post: The Economics Of Marriage
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
The marriage rate in the United States has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. So why is this happening? Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons why so many young people are choosing not to get married today. One big reason is money. Young adults in the U.S. are really struggling to find good jobs, and many are hesitant to take a big step like marriage without achieving a certain level of financial security first. And as you will see below, many young adults (especially women) do not even want to date someone that is not employed. In this harsh economic environment, money makes a big difference in the world of romance. Another big reason for the decline of marriage in America is a seismic shift in cultural attitudes. Americans (especially young people) do not place the same kind of importance on marriage and having children that they once did. Instead, more Americans are choosing to "move in together" than ever before. But if the percentage of Americans that choose to get married continues to decline, what is that going to mean for our future, and what is our country going to look like moving forward?
According to a startling new study conducted at Bowling Green University, the marriage rate in America has fallen precipitously over the past 100 years.
In 1920, there were 92.3 marriages for every 1,000 unmarried women. In 2012, there were only 31.1 marriages for every 1,000 unmarried women.
That is not just a new all-time low, that is a colossal demographic earthquake.
That same study found that the marriage rate has fallen by an astounding 60 percent since 1970 alone.
As a result, U.S. households look far different today than they once did.
Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the U.S. contained a married couple. Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.
That is a very troubling sign if you consider the family to be one of the fundamental building blocks of society.
When young people are asked why they are delaying marriage today, one of the things that always seems to get brought up is money. There is a feeling (especially among men) that you should achieve a certain level of financial security before making the big plunge.
And it is a fact that the more money you have, the more likely you are to be married. Just check out the following stats about income and marriage from a recent Business Insider article...
83% of 30- to 50-year-old men in the top 10% of annual earnings are married today, whereas only 64% of median earners and half of those in the bottom 25th percentile are hitched.
Now, compare that to men in 1970, whose marriage rates were 95% (top earners), 91% (median earners), and 60% (bottom 25th percentile of earners), respectively.
A lot of people like to think that "love is the only thing that matters" when it comes to marriage, but the cold, hard numbers tell a different story. In fact, one very shocking survey discovered that 75 percent of all American women would have a problem even dating an unemployed man...
Of the 925 single women surveyed, 75 percent said they'd have a problem with dating someone without a job. Only 4 percent of respondents asked whether they would go out with an unemployed man answered "of course."
"Not having a job will definitely make it harder for men to date someone they don't already know," Irene LaCota, a spokesperson for It's Just Lunch, said in a press release. "This is the rare area, compared to other topics we've done surveys on, where women's old-fashioned beliefs about sex roles seem to apply."
Unfortunately for American men, there simply are not enough good jobs to go around. In fact, the number of working age Americans without a job has increased by 27 million since the year 2000, and businesses in the U.S. are being destroyed faster than they are being created.
Due to a lack of economic opportunities, a rising percentage of our young people have been giving up on the "real world" and have been moving back in with Mom and Dad. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "29 Percent Of All U.S. Adults Under The Age Of 35 Are Living With Their Parents". And when you break down the numbers, you find that young men are almost twice as likely to move back in with their parents as young women are.
But economic factors alone certainly do not account for the tremendous decline in the marriage rate that we have witnessed in this country. Shifting cultural attitudes also play a huge role.
A whole host of opinion polls and surveys show that Americans simply do not value marriage and having children as much as they once did. For example, the Pew Research Center has found that the younger you are, the more likely you are to believe that "marriage is becoming obsolete" and that "children don't need a mother and a father to grow up happily".
In fact, an astounding 44 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 29-year-old age bracket now believe that "marriage is becoming obsolete".
And why should they get married? Our movies and television shows constantly tell them that they can have the benefits of being married without ever having to make a lifelong commitment.
This sounds particularly good to men, since they can run around and have sex with lots of different women without ever having to "settle down".
But there are most definitely consequences for this behavior. The "sexual revolution" has left behind countless broken hearts, shattered dreams, unintended pregnancies and devastated families.
In addition, the U.S. has become a world leader when it comes to sexually-transmitted disease.
It is hard to believe this number, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approximately one-third of the entire population of the United States (110 million people) currently has a sexually transmitted disease.
So nobody should claim that the "sexual revolution" has not had any consequences.
But most Americans don't actually run around and sleep with lots of different people at the same time. Instead, most Americans seem to have adopted a form of "serial monogamy".
In America today, most people only sleep with one person at a time, and "living together" is being called "the new marriage".
According to the CDC, 74 percent of all 30-year-old women in the U.S. say that they have cohabitated with a romantic partner without being married to them, and it has been estimated that 65 percent of all couples that get married in the United States live together first.
Many believe that by "trying out" the other person first that it will give them a much better chance of making marriage work if they eventually do choose to go down that path. Unfortunately, that does not seem to work out very well in practice. In fact, the divorce rate for couples that live together first is significantly higher than for those that do not.
And when it comes to divorce, America is the king.
For years, the U.S. has had the highest divorce rate in the developed world.
But it wasn't always this way. Back in 1920, less than one percent of all women in the United States were currently divorced or separated. Today, approximately 15 percent of all women in the United States are currently divorced or separated.
So why are so many people getting divorced?
Of course there are a lot of factors involved (including money), but a big one is cheating. According to one survey, 41 percent of all spouses admit to infidelity. Many Americans simply find it very difficult to stay committed to one person for an extended period of time.
As a result of what I have discussed so far, it is easy to see why people in our society are so lonely and so isolated. Less people are getting married, more divorces are happening and couples are having fewer children. This means that our households are smaller and we have far fewer family connections than we once did.
100 years ago, 4.52 people were living in the average U.S. household, but now the average U.S. household only consists of 2.59 people.
That is an astounding figure.
And the United States has the highest percentage of one person households on the entire planet.
But we weren't meant to live alone. We were meant to love and to be loved.
Often, those that are being hurt the most by our choices as a society are the children. They need strong, stable homes to grow up in, and we are not providing that for millions upon millions of them.
When you look at just women under the age of 30 in the United States, more than half of all babies are being born out of wedlock.
That would have been unimaginable 100 years ago.
And of course when there is no marriage involved, a lot of times the guy does not stick around. At this point, approximately one out of every three children in the United States lives in a home without a father, and in many impoverished areas of the country the rate is well over 50 percent.
In addition, women are waiting much longer to have children than they once did.
In 1970, the average woman had her first child when she was 21.4 years old. Now the average woman has her first child when she is 25.6 years old.
The biggest reason for this, once again, is money...
In the United States, three-quarters of people surveyed by Gallup last year said the main reason couples weren't having more children was a lack of money or fear of the economy.
The trend emerges as a key gauge of future economic health — the growth in the pool of potential workers, ages 20-64 — is signaling trouble ahead. This labor pool had expanded for decades, thanks to the vast generation of baby boomers. Now the boomers are retiring, and there are barely enough new workers to replace them, let alone add to their numbers.
We are waiting longer to have children and having fewer of them, but those children are needed for the economic future of this country.
Fifteen years from now, one out of every five Americans will be over the age of 65. All of those elderly Americans are going to want the rest of us to keep the financial promises that were made to them. But that is going to turn out to be quite impossible. We simply do not have enough people.
In the end, the economics of marriage does not just affect those that are thinking of getting married or those that are already married.
The truth is that the economics of marriage affects all of us.
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I think hormones never change,... under 30 you fuck your brains out, ... every night you go out, 1/2 the women in the bar's are there to have someone take them home.
It's all about sexual attractiveness, after 30 it dry's up.
I think a hot 18 year old stud guy still has no problem getting laid, whether he has money or not, ... or better yet no job and a guitar, times never change.
The problem is over 30, and then a GUY has to head to ASIA :)
Most western women seem to go Menopausal well before 40,... just saying.
The problem is that a man's sexual peak is 14 to 70, but a woman's sexual peak is 13-36,
This is why for 5,000 years in asia they match 40 year old guys to 20 year old gal's,... its very well thought out.
"man's sexual peak is 14 to 70"...My hat is off to you and any man who is peaking at age 70. I needed it every day until about age 43. My wife and shrink convinced me that this was "unnatural" or "not normal" or something. Maybe I should visit Asia and eat some rhino horn or something.
I have friends that are 80, and thanks to the little blue pill are still working 3 times a day,
I know guys in their 90's that still chase girls.
I agree, this is another reason to NOT live in the west, ... your supposed to roll over and die after 40,
In ASIA your considered a BOY until 40, that's when you become a man, and a man's sexual prowess begins at 60, ...
The whole basis of ancient chinese martial art's was that an 80 year old guy could beat up a 20 year old guy and take his Girl, and bone her.
>>>
The problem is that the west has been mentally CASTRATED, a long fucking time ago.
Well Fred, shake hands, im done with the whole apestyle movement too.
Dude you are an old dude. Things have changed since the John Wayne days and the advent of colored television sets. Let me explain something to you. Nowadays for various cultural/societal reasons that should be apparent (see 120 comments above) men who act like men are not easily laid by 'showing up to the bar with a guitar." Girls today like sissy guys that are cute and submissive like johnny depp - 5'5 cuties that wear pink polo shirts. A white male that is donimant, intelligent, sophisticated, handsome, confident, well-spoken is something of an oddity, bizarre, a weirdo - unless of course he takes steriods and has sleeve tattoos, shaves his body, and drives a sweet truck that his mom's divorce settlement bought him. Times have changed here. Your ideas of the social mating game are outdated and wrong at least half of the time. American scoieties perception of what a "man" is has been warped. John Wayne is dead.
I knew a guy with kids that paid $60,000 in attorney fees for a divorce. And their wondering why guys don't get married?
You do not pay a girl to have sex with you, you pay her to leave !
Without a doubt, this is the most depressing thread I've ever read here. We really are totally doomed.
Knowing we're totally doomed is a sign you're now paying attention to reality.
I blame globalisation, deindustrialisation and financialisation of the western economies for lack of economic opportunity to form a family. Most of the jobs have gone to Asia. Cost of living has gone through the roof in past 30-40 years. Mainly food, housing and fuel/energy. No one here at ZH is so naive as to believe that this situation will get any better soon. Most aspiring middle class people have truckloads of debt. If they loose their ability to service it for any substantial length of time, their whole illusion of independence does and will hit the wall unfortunately. Thanks so much baby boomer generation. You had it all, squandered it, and left the upcoming generations to cop the slack. Now the middle class family life has become a mirage, and most women who want to have children at some point in their life just don't get it.
At least this is a lot cheaper..No worry about her taking you to court and stripping all your assets.
The Japanese are leading the way.
Robot Handjobs Are The Future, And The Future Is Coming
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/robot-handjobs-vr-tenga_n_42611...
Would you have sex with a ROBOT?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507186/Would-sex-ROBOT-J...
Hopefully it comes with an overdrive protection.
Or else its a rip off ...
Looking at Huffington, a robot hand job seems to be the best way..
FORWARD KY COLONELS!
Women initiate the overwhelming majority of divorce, simply because they know they are going to get paid upon adjudication. Young men have grown up watching their dads get rolled in court. A few times.
A woman marries a man. A man marries the state. Remember that, young grasshoppers....
On top of this, women have become uber-loose in their quest for liberation and autonomy. Along with being fat, tattooed and such.
Besides......why buy the poontang when you obviously can get it for nothing these days?
Well, in the early days women stayed with the family as they needed the protection and the food.
These days are gone i guess.
"A woman marries a man. A man marries the state." Truer words were ne'r spoke.
They don't call those tats above the ass tramp stamps for nothing.
Men not marrying, results in mommies married to the State. The correlation and causation are a lock.
I know a guy who made 7.50/hr and his wife made 9.50/hr and they got married 30 years ago at 23. Back then you didn't think too much about it, you just got moving. He's still married and seems happy as a clam. Oh wait, that's me... this is one bitter ass thread-just sayin.....
Good for you, but your case is the exception not the majority. Its very difficult to find women that aren't narcissistic, materialistic or fall into either the extreme left or the extreme right.
My wife tells me that married men are healthier and live longer. I tell her she is crazy. She also tells me that men want to have families. I don't really buy that either. I think that man's judgement at a certain age is clouded by hormones and lust and they can be conned into the idea of marriage in exchange for a steady supply of sex. The haze wears off and what do you see?
At one time it was prudent to have children as they were your retirement plan. You worked the farm side by side and trained them as well as fed, housed and clothed them. And then when you could work no longer, they cared for you in old age on the homestead you built together.
Today it makes no economic sense whatsoever to have children. If you fail on building up that nest egg, it is probably because you had children. Anyhow the government will make sure you do not starve in old age.
Your post makes me sad - its holds truth but damn this is not life; its a travesty that having a child is viewed in terms of economic-sense. We've lost our personal sovereignty and national sovereignty along the way. We've lost our fight and self-reliance and independance; throughout history people wanted to marry and have kids not soley for retirement security but because that is part of the gift and joy of a hard working life.
We took the kool aide and lost sight of what a real life is about. I have no kids having swallowed the kool aide myself in my 20s and 30s, but I can't stand the idea my life is defined as being a "Consumer" or a "Human Resource". Fortunately I have tight family bonds and these define my priorities and my lifes direction more and more.
I must have gulped a lot of kool aide along the way. I am a consumer and a human resource as well. After sucessfully raising 4 children I feel consumed and tired. I have saved and should be looking forward with hope to an easier time, but instead am filled with concern about the potential for the evaporation of the fruits of my labor. I slaved away to povide for my children who pay taxes and are productive and will allow others to be able to retire and draw SS and so forth. My sacrifice will help to keep the system going perhaps a while longer for better or for worse.
Nah, you're a Dad first, and thats a great thing. They want us defined as 'Consumers' & 'Human Resources' first.
TPTB hate family bonds and so you are a rebel for as long as you keep your family bonds (as challenging as that may be at times for us all).
Your primary sacrifice is not what we are being conditioned to perceive in the fiat world its a fake sense of a middle class future that has been pitched to us, to shut us up (make us compliant and a bit lazy with controlling and opposing TPTB)- today working hard at family unity is as important as anything else we do. How we each plan for the next economic fiasco-stage can be so much better if your family is involved and onboard; family before shopping.
Good comments. I think you are correct that economic determinism has caused a lot of these problems. Parents who think of children in economic terms treat them like shit, same way with relationships. All of these dating apps are like high-frequency whoring, with only corporations and the state making money. Sure some women get some money out of it in the end, but that's small potatoes compared to the real issue: false, meaningless relationships with other people, and a society dominated by state, corporations, psyops etc.
It's not just women and men. How many men past 30 regularly go out to spend time with old friends (if they're not long gone to another city or continent), or spend quality time with the kids? It's mostly video games and soCIAl media now. People don't go out and learn new skills, participate in groups, go to the woods, etc. When they are together it is all dominated by football games, Big Brother, or some other trash on a screen. How could anyone even know what a good relationship is when brought up in this way?
Children are your sole immortality.
They will outlive your money and will be more of a testiment to your past existence than any commentary on a long forgotten ZH blog
Children might be the immortality of some of your genes, not of you. A bit narcissistic to think that oneself should continue forever, no ? For how many generations across the span of time do you think your lineage will remember you ? For eternity ? Think humans will be around for eternity ? Just too much magical thinking in this comonplace.
My dad spent a Shitload (notice the capital S) of time transferring video tapes of my children to DVD as well as thousands of photos scanned. All for "posterity". I doubt anyone will ever look at a fraction of what he has laboriously cataloged. I think he has over a terabyte. He has boxes of photos of his parents, grandparents and other long lost relatives. No one ever looks at these.
I rarely look at photos. I keep little "evidence" of the past. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
And perhaps some of these will end up among other family portraits and snapshots in a flea-market bin. Confirming documentation of our common, anonymous finitude.
"But we weren't meant to live alone. We were meant to love and to be loved."
Bullshit! We're meant to be free! Sorry, gubberment, but your cage monkeys aren't gonna fuck this year. Blame it on weather.
America is has a female culture now. The media caters to them.
Isn't it scary when you are wating to pay for your groceries, and see the magazines that they are trying to sell to the women? And then realize that these same women comprise a majority of the electorate?
Nothing left to do now, except "Enjoy the Decline".
35% to 45% of the women are on anti-depressants...pretty much tells you what you need to know.
This is one of the most entertaining threads ever on ZH...pretty sad
I thought it was because all the Millenial men seem gay.
"And as you will see below, many young adults (especially women) do not even want to date someone that is not employed."
Novel idea!... Who'd of thunk that?...
Took me an hour to scroll to the bottom of the comments of this article!... Go figure...
""And as you will see below, many young adults (especially women) do not even want to date someone that is not employed."
That's not really true. Go to any night club and women pile up to the hot reckless and worthless men. Most divorced women that got assets (house/car/bank account), plus alimony, plus child support generally choose boyfriends that have no career or job since they have the Ex-Husband for financial support.
A fellow at work just got the wife boot about 2 months ago. Wife was cheating on him with a unemployable youth. When the said co-worker when to work one day, wife called him at work informing him, she was kicking him out. Threw all his clothes on the front lawn, changed the locks and had the court restrainting on him not to return. She'll end up with everyhing in court, and most of his salary. Sad but true. See this same thing happen to over a dozen of friends and acquaintance.
That's quite a feat to write such a long article but completely ignoring the divorce laws.
Note: If you still want to marry and bring anything into marriage, never do without a prenup!
"Note: If you still want to marry and bring anything into marriage, never do without a prenup!"
prenups are worthless. 90% of them get thrown out in court. As Nancy Reagan use to say about drugs: Just say NO! to marriage.
"We were meant to love and to be loved."
He is referring to sex, right?
Right?
Anybody!?
que crickets chirping 99.99% of the time here.
My girlfriend came to me in tears: "I feel like only Bitcoin means anything to you...".
I looked at her and said: "No way, there are still Litecoin, Namecoin, Peercoin and maybe also Dogecoin."
Then she started crying.
Not sure if she bought Quarkcoins or what?
On a different note, my GF once complained that I spent too much on stacking and not her.
I have 4 kids and have to admitt that, for the sake of argument, that if the kids weren't a factor, I would have told my wife to take a hike a long time ago. Women today have it better than in the 50s. Staying at home and managing a home successfully is hard work and sacrifice.
For the last 30 years women can go to work and expect their husbands to do or "share" in the housework. Usually that ends up with the man doing the work because the woman is to tired. So, the lawn looks like crap, the car goes without maintaince, and the remolding project doesn't get finished. No time for guy friends either, got do the laundry.
Sex... once a week if you are lucky.
Love my kids though.
yeah, kids are like little hostages in a marriage
If it floats, flies, or fucks..... rent it!
I could read through obviously bitter commentary but I won't. I'm married and happy as can be. If you are unhappy or unmarried or incapable of the sacrifice take a look in the mirror. It's not easy, but like anything in life, good things come to those who work. Two heads are better than one. I like being part of a team. She makes me a better person and I am sure I make her a little better. I love her. Life's what you make it. Sure the deck is stacked agaidnt us, but if you are here you are smarter than the average person. Our problems start with us. I make me poor, unhealthy, stupid and fat. No one else does that. My mom said "love yourself or no one else will." She celebrates 50 in a year with my dad. Love yourselves. I'm negative as fuck here, but ZH is catharsis for me. I need a place to bitch, but I also need to just be happy which I am elsewhere. I just hate seeing this great country go to shit cuz of shitty leadership and loss of moral compass. My side of the street looks good....for now.
Ah, youth...
I'm 40. My parents did a good job and I married a noncunt. She's my best friend. She's fat, I'm no thin mint but she's awesome. I think a big problem is people marry an ideal over a person. Everyone gets fat and ugly. Marry your best friend. My friend Rob as already married so I settled for my wife who's my best friend. How's N. Ohio these days Fred? South is all good.
40=youth. Things are OK, but I think reading ZH too much has gotten me depressed :)
ZH can make you depressed. I play music. My wife asked after a gig once if I'd always play music. We were dating so tentatively I answered yes. She smiled and said "good". I knew right there she was a keeper. She wants me happy. As I process this article, I think people just make shitty decisions on love. You know a cunt when you see one. They'll show flashes of cuntiness too....be vindictive.
I think there is an element of chance. I got lucky with my wife (28 years). Same with children. I have four. Two of them easy, 1 was a pain in the rear and 1 was a mild pain. If the oldest was born with the personality of my two easy children, I could have written a book on parenting, because it would have been a piece of cake with remarkable outcomes. There is the luck of the draw in life.
Chinese WISDOM MARRIAGE
Me too, I play the guitar and harmonica,... I'm never bored, ... there is always new songs to learn, and new techniques to master.
I'll close with CHINESE WISDOM, as this is fitting ...
If you want to be happy for a day take a nap
If you want to be happy for a week, kill your pig
If you want to be happy for a year, get married
If you want to be happy for life, love your work ( or find a passion ).
OMG, a horny elderly white dude in Asia playing the harmonica.
That is a hilarious image!!!!!!
My grandpa played the harmonica, too!!!!
Always a new song to learn, LOL
Middle age depression comes to all men and women. But their is light at the end of the tunnel.
The main thing is to live,... to get out side and travel,... to see the world. Listen to birds and all that shit.
Well this topic is a 'honey-pot' like I said, ... and if recall it came from SIMON-BLACK,
Perhaps we can all go back what we do best and bash Simon Black? :)
But honestly, its normal for men/women to MATE, and if you can find an INTELLIGENT woman to mate with, that understands that its just you and her, and to keep the fucking government at BAY.
The problem is GUBMINT is in the nose of the kids, and tell's the wife to call the GUBMINT when she has a 'problem', once the system enters the HOUSE, they never leave.
I was lucky, my ex-wife was smart you knew better to NEVER ask for outside 'help'.
The problem is doo-gooders,... I mean you have CSD that wants to take the kids, and cops who want to take your gun's,... life is hard, work is hard, ... stress, it just takes ONCE for the WIFE to make that one phone call that put's YOU into the system, and then your life is FUCKED.
It all goes back to that the USA has too much money, and too many people working for the GUBMINT trying to do 'good work'.
The road to HELL is paved with good intentions, and in the USA the GUBMINT has destroyed 'relationships', of course with good intentions.
I haven't even heard anybody here mention 'alimony', ... :(
We work all our lives to save our money, so we can retire, ... only to see a 1,000 different agency's trying to steal that money, ... are we miserable ? Fuck no
>>>
What purpose is ZH, ... I don't know, some of us figure out on our own,... we're survivor's, other men are lost,... they are in defeat,...
One thing is certain here on ZH, ... its not fight-club, and their is no shoulder for BOB to cry on.
I have man tits.
TMI.
"The main thing is to live,... to get out side and travel,... to see the world. Listen to birds and all that shit."
That is a great idea, if one has the means to do so. Sure, I can go outside to listen to the birds......sometimes I wish I worried as much as they do, but for us to drop 5 g's on a summer holiday that won't even get me out of the states is not in the cards right now.
I would like to thank the FED for that one, but then at the end of the day I have three great kids and a wife who beat cancer last year, food on the table and a little extra scratch for a rainy day.
Me too I'm happier than a pig in shit,... my wife is a doll.
But marriage in the USA is like playing Russian-Roulette, with rounds in all chambers.
My ex-wife of america didn't take me to the cleaners either when we divorced years ago, ... we settled out of court, for BOTH didn't want a lawyer to get a nickel.
The problem is that +90% of marriages do get fucked by the system.
>>>
I'm completely an adovcate of "MARRIAGE" it gives the woman security.
PACH mentioned today about 'renting' but that is bullshit, to spend your nights with crack-hos', or meth-heads; a good woman knows your a whore-monger, ... YOU WILL NEVER get a good woman.
>>>
Good for you that your wife you have a good marriage, ... I had a good marriage over 20 years, then me WIFE started menopause a little over 40, and sex stopped; for 5 years I went dry, and was miserable, then she asked a divorce; I ran to file the papers the same day, I was on the next flight to ASIA, and that was over 20 years ago.
I'm still great friends with her, and she still wants me back, she said "When I divorced you, I thought you would just move accoss the street"
Today I'm happier than a pig in shit, my wife is a doll, and sex is infinitely available, and everything is perfect.
The only thing my wife ever ask's of me is to take a shower and shave.
Am I bitter? Fuck no.
Do I hate the US GOVERNMENT? FUCK YES :)
>>>
Would I ever MARRY in the USA, or take a woman to the USA? FUCK NO
I was just play damn lucky the first time around,...
I have so many friends, ... serially divorces, and every divorce she gets 1/2, these guy's lost is all, ..1/2, ..1/2, ... 1/2 pretty soon you got NOTHING.
I love marriage with a WOMAN, but the USA GOVERNMENT(LAWYERS) have destroyed 'marriage'.
Good for you.
Yeh, I think all of us Ohio guys should go visit James for a few weeks and he take us on a tour. We can learn at his feet. Kind of like how the National Review would have those cruises with William F. Buckley and William Kristol giving speeches and so forth.
I'm in.
Am I bitter? Fuck no.
Do I hate the US GOVERNMENT? FUCK YES :)
Awesome. I lucked out...so far. She may blow a menstruation gasket one day and kill me in my sleep. All her cousins are from Texas and told me all about their guns on our wedding night. We are looking at moving out of country. She's a world traveler too.
oh how bad of her to choose to go through menopause and just waste all those years of your good marriage
and if you had got an illness or injury? where would she be? in Barbados with a young buck?
what happened to personal strength, fortitude and decency... for better or worse carving a life and a future
bleeting about corrupt powers is pointless if we cannot uphold our own standards through thick or thin
if the shit does hit the fan who does anyone rely on - sunshine mates? or those who can stay the course and work towards better days.
Asia is not going to be a white man's privileged domain when the reset occurrs unless you are extremely well connected and valuable to those connections. In Asia you are a disposable diaper.
+ 1000
Very good comments all through this thread. A good marriage is work. Getting married too young is generally a mistake.
YES, keep your side of the street clean.
Disclosure: 58 yr old Beta-Male who lucked out not marrying a young fish too early in the USA. I'll hand connolly one thing: in my case, the girl I met in Peru is with me still (29 years married).
ALT-MIN tax,... another reason not to be married
Hey in my case, I would have never left or never ask for a divorce ( IRISH bad habit about loyalty to your woman ), but she asked for the divorce first,... and then I said YES,.. HELL YES, .... SOLD. :)
Marriage is hard work, but better is living with a partner, Hell we lived together for 10 years before we got 'married' and it was her idea to get married, and to be fully honest, her idea to get divorced, being married pushed her taxable income from $5k to over $30k; I told her before marriage she would get fucked, she didn't beleive, .. we always filed separately, I always got audited and didnt' want to make problem's for her,
She was making over $100k, and the ALT-MIN tax when she went married-filing-separately just fucking HIT her hard,...
She had quit fucking me for 5 years earlier, I wasn't fucking anybody else, ... I wanted to roam, I didn't need to work anymore, ...so when she suggested divorce I bailed;
When I was young I learned that USA was about making money, but Italy, or SE-ASIA was about 'living', now you can't even make money in the USA, so the USA has nothing.
A good exposition of what it's like at the end of a cycle for a civilization... the core beliefs are questioned long before they are allowed to be attacked, and only later are they disposed of as the civilization collapses in the process... the 'Iron Age' as many previous ancient civilizations have entitled it... and we are 'lucky' to be on the final curtain call... which isn't mentioned much in our history books... interesting? Not really, as the PTB depend upon those core beliefs for their propaganda to work successfully on the sheeple... but time shapes the archetypes per the designs of the divine, and how many seek to understand those information fields?
We all reflect our environment, which is under attack by not only the pychopaths in power, serving as puppets for the PTB, but by Mother Nature herself who has been sending out the 'signs' for decades now... and that is a rather inconvenient truth... same as that money matters in marriage, in any culture based in money and let's face it, we have been reduced, or shall i say, 'dumbed down', to that point of being a mere clog of consumption for the 'machine', and the machine isn't designed to last forever. Everything physical has a shelf life, same as every civilization, depending upon the environmental conditions... and anyone observing those, know that 'something wicked this way comes'... many cycles are beginning to converge... signs of potential disaster are going parabolic... even NASA talks of 'a little ice age'.... or about 'dark matter' affecting the local comet/asteroid field, which would spell Trouble for planet Earth... former astronaunts mention how these things are falling into our atmosphere all the time, much bigger and badder than we've been told in the past.
In such a time, at the end of an age and/or cycle, only the sleepiest sheep would continue following the old programming... the information field is about to change... and change is 'good', right? Though a wee bit disruptive in the process.
Read the book, Decline of the West.
The feminization and financialization of a culture is a sign of demise.
Will not get married to boyfriend of 3 years. Living together and don't want the government in bed with us.
If you have children, the government will get in bed with you - married or not.
Clearly men talk and the fact is the family law system is in reality a wealth redistribution program... forced program. The earners (mostly men) end up getting ass raped by their ex's, losing what they've worked so hard for, talk to younger single guys and advise them not to make the same mistake and the young guys are listening... more and more. The more they listen to the reality that is marriage/divorce the less choose marriage. I was married once for 25 years... I lost it all and in a short 5 years was worth 3x as much as I was after 25 years of marriage... that's what happens when you don't have a wife underming your earnings/savings/investing... taking you through a divorce and stealing your accumulated wealth via the "family law system." Marriage is for suckers.
The numbers are likely even more startling if you exclude non-white races from the calculations in America.
It is not about money.
Its about the fucking evil socialist disease.
The fuck witted retarded fucking socialist cunts are the ones causing this.
Jeezus FC, why should I pat to raise kids, fuck you let the state pay, pay for schools, fuck you let the state pay, you decide how I bring them them up, fuck you, Im not having any, you want to decide who can live in my house or who cant, fuck you, you want to decide how they get fed, what they can eat what they have to do or not do, fuck you,
You fucking socialist cunts want me to have kids, so you have more fodder for your crony corrupt fucking paymasters, fuck you.
You want to tell me how to live how many forms I gotta fill in what I can do and cant do to raise a family, fuck you socialist cunt.
You want more kids then go fuck that retarded socialist hag you live with you socialist cretin, bang her and you bring up 12 kids if you want them.
Want me to be all nice and fucking PC like you fucking socialist shit heads? fuck you.
You want to control me and my family, tell me how to live and bring my kids up, fuck you socialist asshole
Burn in fucking hell because I am not jumping for you any more and that includes any potential kids.
Thats your future you crony capitalist cock-sucking morons, one of no new small businesses and less taxes and less fucking real money for your fucking thieving pensions, your fucking corrupt Nazi and fascist bureaucrats and all your fucking stinking crony capitalist paymasters.
You cunts, all you socialist cunts turned this country into a shit hole taking away my rights and twisting the constitution, and all your mountains of fucking puerile PC raddled rules and regulations.
Now its my turn, fuck you socialist cunts. You want to lord it over everyone then the only ones you gonna do that to in future is all your own fucking useless bastard propagandized brain washed spawn.
Except you fucking clowns couldn't earn enough real money to feed a fucking dead ant.
You want all the rights and responsibility's over everyone, you fucking pay for it then. Go and print your fucking fake toilet ponzi cash. You will soon find out what fucking worthless means.
Fucking socialist shit heads.
Just go and fucking shoot some of these dumb fucking socialist cunts guys, make the world a better place.
rant over
Exactly, "they" just want you to have kids so they can support their various socialist scams, corrupt government bullshit schools, and the like. "They" want you to be in poverty from the high cost, so they can lend you money at interest. Socialism is cultural genocide, and we're far beyond the tipping point.
Don't dip your wick if your not prepared to pay the consequences, you and millions of others voted for this crap, every election you swallow the same old crap and then bitch about it when it doesn't happen.
I didn't vote for any of this crap. Most didn't. But its unfortunately an artifact of the completely corrupted political process.
Soooo, shot in the dark here, not a democrat?
oh lordy, you sound like you have some serious mental problems.
Damicol, awesome post.
40, happily divorced single dad with full legal and physical custody of three kids 3-9, was happily married for 7 years to a gal with a past I thought we had forgotten about but came back to haunt her with an ex and a bag of meth/heroin/cocoa or something like that. Anyway, I only married the girl to make her an honest woman lol and I got one gorgeous daughter (that unfortunately thinks she knows pretty much everything at age 9) and two boys that are extremely difficult to keep clean and in clothes that don't generate holes on a daily basis. Might have to see if j.c wants to introduce me to someone of the eastern flair as I still have plenty of psi and money to do well by my (future)children....:-)
To all the astute commens above, I will only add two concise observations on the state of the modern american family:
abortion on demand
divorce on demand
And sir that is astute and might I add if you stick mostly to anal you can cut down on pregnancy percentage. Environmental factors have pushed young men towards anal facsination. Talk to any female pornstar and ask them if they can make it in Porn without doing anal scenes. No sir. Ass, grass, or gas nobody rides for free.
In 1936, George Orwell marveled that in the depressed steel and coal towns of northern England, jobless young men and women often "married on the dole" and raised children together. I guess old habits die hard, but they die nonetheless.
Well, folks will always have kids, it's just biological. But marriage is social, and that tells you that people are not investing their futures in the society anymore. Another troubling trend.
The canaries are dropping...
Default shared parenting (h/t Bob Geldof) would brake the runaway train. Like THAT will ever happen.
And nobody brought up .... Joe Biden, Mr VAWA (violence against women act) himself. Hey Joe...
Child custody is the meanest business of all.
Fuck you Joe
I'm guilty - married with two kids. Girls no less. Wife is a beautiful Brazilian from Rio I met while vacationing during Carnaval. We fell in love, shacked up in Buenos Aires for three years before coming to the US to get married. Marriage has had its ups and downs as they all will when a Latina woman is involved, but overall, I'm very happy after nearly a decade together, 7 of it in wedded bliss. lol. I will say this: I own a nice apartment in Buenos Aires and it's a pre-marriage asset. I'm thankful for that because it's going to be very hard to pry that one from my fingers. The house and cars? Meh. At the end of the day, if we split the sheets, my girls are really all I give a shit about in this world anyway so if we end up spending weekends together in a condo while mom nails the pool boy in my old bd, so be it. I'll shrug it off and continue doing what I've always done: take care of my girls.
Otherwise, some here have made some very astute observations, particularly this one:
"brainwashing them into p-worshipping manginas who do almost everything in the relationship simply because she spreads her legs. It's pathetic. I want to throw up every time I see a guy say how his wife or woman LET him do something that as an adult he should have the ability to do without asking permission."
Many of the men I'm expected to "hang out with" are gringos like myself (most of them your run of the mill dorks and pariahs to most women) who married Brazilian women with the major difference being that they found a nanny here in the US who was looking for a sugar daddy and immediately jumped at the chance to climb on what they think is a hot piece of ass. Truth is, most of them aren't terribly attractive as far as Brazilians go, but it's good enough for them. My wife has come to the conclusion that just because we share a similarity in Brazilian wives does not in any way dictate that I'll spend ANY time with these borish oafs, and the quote above is the primary reason. These spineless chickenshits don't speak, eat, sleep, work or otherwise engage in any activity to which their wives haven't given their blessing. It's so goddamn fucking pathetic that it makes me genuinely despise them. When they all laugh and joke about "the boss" in their house, I want to pull out my fucking blade and gut them. I rock climb quite a bit and when I want to go, I give her sufficient notice and politely let her know I'll be gone most of Saturday. She has no problem telling me she's going to the movies with her friend and will be gone Sunday. We're fucking adults. We have lives and don't ask permission but rather consult with one another like normal human beings.
These guys in 10 years will be watching their incredibly shrinking dicks wondering where it all went. How they came to be Ray Romano to her, well, whatever that whiny bitch's name is. It's not in our nature to self-castrate and prostrate ourselves before women, spreading their legs or not. Funny thing is, these girls aren't even giving it up all that often. These guys get their dicks wet 4 times a month and it's a miracle. It's sad and I see it everywhere I go now. Women openly acknowledging that they're in it for the money. A co-worker of mine is worth 8 figures and lives with a fading Barbie who HATES him and admits as much and literally won't leave the house until she gets $1M out of him. He's called the cops asking them to remove her as she's not on the title. Guess what? Not that simple. He's literally STUCK with her and will have to initiate legal proceedings even when they are not married or even common law. Can't kick his own GF out of the house. Another one that gets laid 2 times a month if that.
Thanks...that shit needed to be said. I didn't particularly care for the article for reasons I'll explain later whne I have more time, but I'm amazed at the downvotes...especially with no rebuttals...pussy whipped lemmings trying to rationalize thier pathetic decisions while doing what they do best...not say a peep.
By the way...I live where Belushi got that 'college' shirt!!!! And I wonder if you have any advice for my trip to Bogota later this summer to see my lady down there I met about six months ago...I take advice well ;-)
I think you misunderstand Marx.
In the Communist Manifesto, Marx wrote that the family is going to be toast. But he didn't say he necessarily wanted it to be that way.
The problem is, by the time the capitalists have done their thing, there will be very little left of the traditional family structure for the majority of the people. You're seeing it happen in your own time, before your eyes. Why else was this article posted on ZH?
When the Communists finally abolish the few lingering legal formalities, we'll just be dealing as best we can with the mess of the family structure that the Capitalists left us.
BTW it's the same thing with private property. Communists are not going to abolish private property. Just as they are eliminating traditional families for the majority of the people, the bourgeoisie are effectively eliminating private property for 99% of the people. The Communists will only have to liquidate the insignificant remaining 1%, just to clear up an absurd situation.
Sexual politics has been as successful as government politics.
Wow.
The article didn't even discuss economics. This was more sociology. Man, they discipline gets no cred.
The economics of marriage are pretty simple. If you find someone you can work with, but isn't exactly like you to the point where they have different skills, you're golden. You can thrive off specialization and gains from trade.
As for the US, the great society shit killed marriage for welfare recipients. You can't get married, you'd make too much. ZH has shown the chart several times: $60k is the same as $30k in terms of income. There's no economic benefit for 20% of the country right now.
http://www.dontmarry.com/
great article.
I've had two college buddies who either:
a) They married to get on their spouses' health insurance (guy or gal)
or
b) They married to consolidate to one rent payment
Economy is doing great, right?
I'd throw in with the economic
factors in the column, with such events
as this
http://www.france24.com/en/20130729-france-binge-drinking-alcohocl-beuve...
(while the world may partake of
the wine, le binge drinking's new
and occurrng in Britain and the U.S.,)
perhaps reflecting downright despair
((financially, fate of the world for
younger generations particularly, of
course.))
What may also be plopped into their
lives today is unscrupulous billionaires' puppets
selling to weaknesses so as to serve as their
paymasters' slumlords (governor, mayor,
senator as slumlord.)
So while people everywhere may have a
natural you be like me no you be like
me tendency, while some may simply not
realize it's selfish, others may simply
not recognize it's encouraged, and of
course it can be extreme.
Of course males can be physically
morally abusive, and that can at times
include cops, we today see, though of
course anyone's vulnerable to the
temptation, with it today decades
past since Frank Galvin ("The Verdict")
said what a terrible thing it is to have to
judge somoneone (even when they're
on trial and you're supposed to do
it.)
Though not to say the problematically
unsettled selfish or pathic personality
doesn't warrant being seen for what it
is, those puppets above likely create
some of the trouble.
Then, it's instead of partners or
potential partners becoming teflon
to each other, a base of security.
Also, some people will look at
sample population/target population
as to one or other trait and assume
they can look at someone and actually
know all about them, when in reality
humans aren't robots, and to do that
is probably more than not fundamentally
foolish and bound to be in error and
even afoul of traditional behavioralist
thought, though I'm not a behavioralist.
The key point is democracy and
cooperation define opposite types
of community relation, and simultaneously
define the opposite of community run
by unscrupulous billionaire and
puppet governor, mayor or senator
as slumlord.
I think definitionally anytime
you act like you're in the juror's
box addressed by Frank Galvin,
and act on that role, to the extent
it's wrongful it's also definitionally
at least a smidgeon guilty of denying
birthright. That's what courts are
for after all.
The marriage "contract" is a tool of control used by the state to assist in the "management" of the population (who are property of the state). Divorce, when put through the state "system", is yet another wealth transfer mechanism. True love between two people does not require state sanction, nor sanction by ANY religious organization (the predecessor to government). Government and organized religious institutions are primarily designed to "think" for the people who volunteer to participate in them. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society". ~ Krishnamurti
My advise to young men is to stay SINGLE. My advise to my 2 daughters is to stay SINGLE.
The cost of Divorce is not worh the risk of financial ruin and life long slavery. The courts ALWAYS see the man as a walking ATM machine. Bottom line your wife can essentially end the marriage at any time and clean you out. If she has an affair and pops out a kid BEFORE you are divorced from her, guess what, you will be on the hook for child support for some baby-daddy's kid.
Stay informed. Stay single.
Best Website I can recommend on this would be www.mgtowhq.com (check out the Marriage Sucks Section, you will see)
If you are thinking of getting married, do this instead. Pick a random woman that you HATE and just buy her a House and Car and walk away. It will save you years off aggrivation and fighting over kids and assets, and get this crap out of your system for good.
I don't know...good stories on tbis board from a variety of experiences but the article itself is a weak appeal to a tiring tradition. The econ argument is backward thinking...is he saying that people are incorrectly adapting to the incentives of the systems and times? That they are adapting by not participating in a broken system is good news...an appeal to tradition is a weak argument. People were together AND not together long before it became a sanctioneed event. And he really wants us to romantacize thd past I guess when supposedly sleeping around and infedelity wasn't common (yeah right).
It's a 'tradition'...they are all invented at some point. They prosper when they are useful to large portions of people...they die when they aren't...and they are tools to be used by elites to centralize or gain status and power and usually later to manipulate masses. This is 'tradition' 101. And this particular tradition has always been a control mechanism by religious or state 'authorities'...as many here have already noted. People will still co-habitate...just not in the 'traditional' way as much...given the disincentives, why would we be surprised...or even upset about it?
Way to go young people...you've learned at least one lesson from other people's mistakes instead of having to make them yourselves.
I wish I had...you knew I'd have to tip my bitter hand huh? ;-)