More American Men 50 and Over on Strike?

Hmmm…. Men over 50 on strike? From an article from Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More Americans 50 years and older are copying younger generations and eschewing marriage, opting instead to live with their partners, according to new research.

In 2016 about 18 million Americans were cohabiting, defined as living with an unmarried partner, and nearly a quarter of them were people over 50, an increase of 75 percent since 2007, data released on Thursday from Pew Research Centre showed.

“Baby Boomers have a higher divorce rate and there are a greater number of unmarried people in that age group” than previously, Pew research analyst Renee Stepler said in an interview Thursday.

Government figures show that so-called “grey divorce,” or splits among adults 50 and over, has about doubled since the 1990s and could partly account for the increase in cohabitation.

Fewer marriages, changing social norms and women’s greater economic independence are other explanations for the rise, Stepler added.

As cohabiting has gone up, the marriage rate in the United States has dropped, from 8.2 per 1,000 population in 2000 to 6.9 in 2014, according to figures from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Note that the article mentions nothing about older men being more savvy about the pitfalls of the marriage contract for men but the commenters understand it full well:

Commenter John states:

Most of these older men have most likely been raked over the coals once in divorce and simply won’t take the chance on another feminist western woman. Now we just have to stop our sons from falling for the same scam in the future. The only way to fix marriage is to fix divorce. Men have been punished enough by feminism!

While commenter RiH says:

The Absolute Worst Contract that a man can sign is a marriage contract. There is no ‘right or wrong’ in court as with a REAL contract. Simply – “I feel like leaving, give me 1/2 of everything you own, and pay me a monthly check for a long long time. I have a new lover.” What a crock. Guys…with assets, don’t fall for THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT. When it comes to enforcement, It’s not a contract at all, it’s a dependent party’s rouse to take your assets and without any good cause.

Someone should write a book about this phenomenon.