Colossus
Tenacity-
I am going to outline for you in simple format one last time why your ARGUMENTS (not your opinions) are weak:
1. The stats you gave us (2 links to CDC/Census Bureau divorce stats) only tell us what we already know---divorce is high and women typically initiate it. They don't bolster your stance that never marrying leads to a superior outcome.
Lol, dude those stats and my commentary based on them IS all the information you need. I gave you the Commercial Loan Underwriting example, I'll repeat it once again. If you are looking to invest in a group of businesses within a market where the default rate is SKY HIGH and you are seeing other investors left and right losing their principal investment...would it be prudent to initiate a loan approval? Yes or No? Wouldn't it be prudent to put that MARKET on your Restricted List UNTIL the market climate changes? Yes or No?
The simple FACT that the marriage market is shyt right now in terms of the general quantity of women that are marriage material in the first place, with a divorce system that's shyt right now in terms of an inefficient process designed to line the pockets of Divorce Attorneys and Judges, with a line of financially screwed, suicidal and already laying in a coffin from having committed suicide MEN...that's ENOUGH damn information for any PRUDENT person to say hold up, maybe this is NOT a prudent investment to make (getting married).
And maybe, it's best to opt for an alternative relationship structure such as the one I propose, which is the No Cohabitation (she has her place - I have mine) structure for an LTR.
If we decide to have kids, we will try to work this out with a joint agreement outside of the Courts, if not, then your "financial screwing" is at least limited to the child support and only for the remainder of the 16-18 years of the child's early life. Not FOREVER in terms of alimony or having to hand over 50% of your assets in terms of a divorce. As I said earlier, you could get screwed with child support but still SURVIVE....it will be hard to survive with a financial screwing of divorce AND child support.
Also with the child support system, there's WAYS you can risk manage that area. You should choose a woman within the No Cohabitation structure I proposed who makes "about" or "more" money than you make, and make sure you get an Attorney that gets you joint custody. That way, the child support payments can be more "balanced" even though they still won't be technically "fair".
Colossus
2. You propose that the odds of a negative outcome (divorce and the possibility of divorce rape) are so high that they negate any potential benefits of marriage, and that all said benefits can be attained without marrying.
The first part of your thesis is your OPINION (because first marriages have a <50% divorce rate, meaning greater than 50/50 odds of success, and you cant really prove what percentage of divorces result in divorce "rape", as it were. All you have are anecdotes.)
You want to only focus on the first marriage divorce rates at around 41% on average based on the stats, but marriage is an "institution" in and of itself and second, third, plus marriages should be included in the total. But again....let's just focus on first marriages then okay?
You have about a 50% FAILURE RATE. Colossus, here's a question, would you make an investment in something that required a significant amount of your time, energy and ASSETS....where there was a 50% chance you could lose significantly, and if within the 50% chance you "succeed" you might not be totally satisfied with the results 50% of the time OR for the other 50% of the time you might come to realize that the "benefits" you received could have been obtained WITHOUT participating in the risk in the first place?
Lol, you know what getting married today is like for the successful man? It's like having land with a shyt load of gold underneath, which technically means you own the gold because you own the land it's buried under. Say one day you wake up and say, "Hmmm...I want some gold!" But instead of going into your backyard and just "digging up the gold," you instead go on the financial markets and "invest" in gold as a commodity and subject yourself to the ups, downs, etc. of the market's gold prices. By investing in the market, seeing as though gold is very volatile, you risk losing your ENTIRE investment...for a "benefit/commodity"...that you ALREADY HAD lol.
Colossus
As I stated previously, eventually you are going to meet a girl (or girls) you really, really like. When this happens, human nature takes over and you will naturally start making each other a bigger part of your lives.
Well, "human nature" also gives me the urge to eat Snicker bars all day, eat french fries, and eat baby back ribs, even though they are HORRIBLE for my nutrition. However, have you ever heard of something called, I don't know...self control and discipline lol? You develop your morals, standards and values and you STICK to them. You don't fold.
Colossus
Oh, and I'll make one prediction to go on record: I bet you, Tenacity, will be married within 5 years. If not I'll buy you a case of beer.
Well, I don't drink anymore lol, so instead of the beer can I get a 5lb tub of Gold Standard?
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html