Mike, in his piece, Can we have the day off?:
If AI is going to 10x our productivity across the board, that means that I should be able to produce the same amount of output by midday on Monday that, in the before times, would have taken all week. So can I just take Friday off? […] Yo, Elon: I’m trying to increase the fertility rate. Childcare for 3 small children is six thousand dollars a month here in California. Do I have to go into the office all five days this week? Why not four?
$6,000 a month in childcare is $72,000 a year. The median full-time worker in the U.S. earns about $62,000. Childcare for three kids costs more than most people make. Meanwhile, Elon Musk ended 2025 worth $726 billion.
People want to have kids. The 10x productivity gains are real, or they aren’t. If they are, someone’s capturing that surplus, and it isn’t the person who can’t afford childcare.