"The United States has never done much to deal with the income risks that come from having both mom and dad in the workforce --- from child care costs, to the need for time off to have kids and care for sick family members, to the increased risk to accustomed standards of living that plague families dependent on two jobs.
We live in a twenty-first century economy dominated by two-earner families. Yet, social protections for working Americans have changed remarkably little since the mid-twentieth century --- and, when they have changed, they have usually been cut, not expanded."