[jjoonathan]

The nuclear family used to contribute 5/14 person-days per week to the workforce. Now it contributes 10/14 person-days, which leaves only 4 person-days a week to raise kids, which isn't enough. Birth rate plummets -- who could have seen it coming?

We should use the hours-per-week overtime threshold to control the aggregate supply/demand for labor (this also will require removing exceptions, of course).

Proposal: the overtime threshold should be at 3 days per week. This leaves a nuclear family contributing ~6 days a week to the workforce -- more than it did in the 50s -- while still leaving 8 person-days a week for raising kids.

Objection: but China will catch us if we slack off!

Counter-Objection: China has the same problem but worse, and they have a government that loves big central plans more than ours does. Compromise would be possible if we wanted it.

Objection: but we are ruled by capitalists who will never allow it.

Counter-Objection: yeah, probably. If they do nothing, reduced birth rate will eventually reduce the aggregate supply of labor for them -- but automation will probably land by then, so I doubt they are too worried. We need to put an end to the situation where they profit enormously from mismanaging the situation.

[alkonaut]

You are confusing “nuclear family” and “sole breadwinner households”. Nothing about nuclear family requires a homemaker parent. It only means 2-generation household with 2 parents and 1..N kids.

And working 10 days of 14 works great and is possible to combine with a decent fertility so long as there is cheap care options as the article suggests.