“American millennials are approaching middle age in worse financial shape than every living generation ahead of them, lagging behind baby boomers and Generation X despite a decade of economic growth and falling unemployment,” as The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
“Hobbled by the financial crisis and recession that struck as they began their working life, Americans born between 1981 and 1996 have failed to match every other generation of young adults born since the Great Depression. They have less wealth, less property, lower marriage rates and fewer children, according to new data that compare generations at similar ages.
“Even with record levels of education, the troubles of millennials have delayed traditional adult milestones in ways expected to alter the nation’s demographic and economic contours through the end of the century.
“Millennials helped drive the number of U.S. births to their lowest levels in 32 years. That means fewer workers in the future to support Social Security and other public programs for the ballooning population of retirees.
“Prospects for a quick turnaround aren’t good. Men and women in their 30s are marrying at rates below every other generation on record.
“We’ll have to rethink a lot of things about taxation and how social programs are funded if fertility is really on a more permanent decline,” said Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
“Growth in property values and the stock market this past decade helped older households regain ground since the recession. Millennials, though, have made little headway.
The rest of the article is here.
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
This is uplifting, however: http://time.com/5591629/robert-smith-billionaire-student-debt-gift/
Overall, the decline in the birthrate should be good news for the planet except for the fact that it’s happening in mostly in the first world whereas 3rd world country’s populations continue to grow. Of course, the declining birth rate eventually leads to not so many consumers and therefore economic slowdown. No wonder government/corporations site this statistic with dismay.
I read a few days ago that birthrate in the “heartbeat bill” states is significantly lower. I think Georgia was down like 30% over some amount of time. I guess those states see their female citizens as brood mares and enact bills to fight the decline. Although those with any sense and ability sould get the hell out of those states while they can.