Posted on 03/06/2006 7:12:09 AM PST by FreedomSurge
Economically, every society needs children.
Children are the producers of the future This means that children are in a sense a necessary economic good. A society that does not produce enough children, or that cannot produce enough children who grow into economically productive adults, is doomed to poverty.
Every long-term investment we make, whether in the private or public sector, is predicated on the idea that there will be a future generation which will actually produce a return. It doesn't matter what economic or political system rules the present, it will need children to secure its future. Even the most self-centered individual would eventual realize that if the next generation cannot produce, his own welfare will suffer.
So, collectively we all need children and benefit when they grow into productive adults, but the cost of raising children is increasingly being borne by fewer and fewer in the general population.
Childless adults are rapidly becoming economic free riders on the backs of parents.
In the pre-industrial era, children almost always contributed to the economic success of the family directly. Agriculture depended heavily on the labor of children, and children brought further benefits by extending support networks via marriages. In the industrial era, however, children began to contribute less and less while consuming more and more. Nowadays, children usually return very little if any economic benefit to the parents.
Being a parent costs one economically. Although we socialize some cost, such as education, parents pay most of the cost of raising a child. Parents also lose out in non-monetary ways such as in a loss of flexibility in when and where they work. If an individual sets out to maximize his lifetime income, avoiding having children would be step one.
In our atomized society, children do not provide a boost in status, networking or security that offsets their very real cost. I think this economic loss may explain why many people shy away from having children. Many people simply do not want the loss of status that will come from having their disposable income consumed by rug rats.
Like all free-rider situations, this one will eventually cause a collapse that hurts everyone. As the percentage of parents in the population shrinks, the cost of being a parent will rise. More and more people will be tempted to conserve their own resources and let someone else shoulder the burden of creating the next generation. Eventually, the society will either produce too few children or, probably more likely, will not produce enough children with the skills and habits needed to carry on the economy
There is already grousing in some blue zones by the childless that they shouldn't have to subsidize the "breeders'" children. How long before child-hostile places like San Francisco become the norm?
I'm not sure how to address this problem from a public-policy perspective, but the next time you run into someone bragging because he chose not to have children, call him a parasite and see how it works out.
Government employees are the ones that shouldn't be allowed to vote. They have interest only in their salaries and benefits, and are non producers by definition.
The childless are in the unique position that they can oppose tyranny and not have their children used against them. They alone bear the consequences of their actions, allowing them to use integrity as a weapon against tyranny so your children will be free.
Shannon Love's use of the word "parasite" should garner her a broken nose.
LOL... do you know my brother-in-law?
He's got a summer lake house, a time share in Myrtle Beach, 3 cars, a motorcycle, a snowmobile, an ATV, a boat, a large firearms collection, and a pair of jet skis.
And now they're struggling because their first kid just went off to college and they didn't plan for it...
Meanwhile, I've paid off about $35,000 in credit card debt in the past 6 months and will retire debt free in 2 years.
And from Mineral Man: Silly boy (or girl)! Like many childless folks, I have already arranged to have plenty of funds and insurance to take care of those needs. Indeed, my wife and I are less likely to be sucking off the public nipple in our old age than most folks with kids.
Yep, same here. I've been laboring under the impression that SS just wouldn't be there when I retired, and without kids, I knew I'd have to provide for myself and my wife.
She retired at 58 two years ago, and I'll retire in 2 years, and I've been working with a good financial advisor since my wife retired to make sure I am on track. And when I do, we will officially be "rich".
We're the lucky ones, I guess. Sounds like there will be lots of our peers that will be super-sizing our Happy Meals until the day they die... and lots of whiney, ungrateful Gen-X neo-libertarians hoping all those inconvenient old people will die early to save them money...
Are you suggesting that you have gained no benefit from the children in this country being educated? One can readily contest the effectiveness of our school system for the funds spent, but it is short sighted to say the childless have received no benefit. Is the level of benefit sufficient to justify the cost? I suspect it isn't, at least not for conservatives, but there is no reasonable way to measure it.
Government employees are the ones that shouldn't be allowed to vote. They have interest only in their salaries and benefits, and are non producers by definition.
Does that include the military who are also Government employees?
Well, there's no reason to get snippy.
MM, I'm on your side in this STUPID thread, but you made an interesting choice of words there. My wife is a hospice worker, and although she considers it a religious calling, she is in the EXTREME minority amongst her co-workers. Unless you are very, very lucky, the person "caring" for for will only be doing so in the healthcare definition of the word. You'll be just another means to a paycheck. The chances are very small you'll find someone who cares about you as a person.
But that may not matter to you. Maybe you just want someone to wipe your butt and change your bed. But a stranger who is there for a check may be giving you "care", but have no illusions that they "care". For that, you'll need someone who has known you since they were born, who has a love for you that is so deep that they can't explain it. Someone who will be heartbroken when you go.
What you described is "healthcare", not "care".
Sure there is.
:->
Just taking the Ann Coulter approach; I ask myself: “what would Ann do?”
And, of course, the answer is; write something to infuriate those who disagree with me, while making those who agree with me laugh. I make to claim to be in Ann’s league here, only that she is my inspiration.
I hope you are being sarcastic -your property taxes for schools is an investment in people who will fix your car, take care of you at the hospital, start new businesses to provide stuff and services you want. Of course, we can open up our immigration like Europe did...
Exactly. I was just gonna mark it off as a dumb a$$ comment. We all do it once in a while.
Otherwise, how goes it in the trenches? Are you getting enough R&R?
Junk bond dealers provide a way for companies to raise capital, in many cases the only type of capital available to such companies.
Real estate agents connect a willing buyer with a willing seller in an economically efficient manner.
Both groups provide economic bonuses to the economy.
True, but they're also paying for the snots that lip off at me, screw up my order at the drive through, and ignore me at a large number of retail venues.
And, you were never such a snot?
Yes, actually. I would even go so far as to say that unless a person pays more into the treasury in taxes than they get back, they should not be allowed to vote.
As a matter of fact, not when I was younger.
Now that I've paid my dues... :)
"The childless shouldn't be allowed to vote. They have little interest in the future of the nation."
Based on that, at 50 and never married I'm not only a parasite, but also degenerate (an accusation actually amde by one allegedly "biblical" church).
So in order to vote, instead of living a biblically moral life, instead I should be hanging out in bars, find some slut and say:
"Yo Bimbo!
I'm Mister Sleaze
I'm what you want
and I'm what you need"
Then go knock her up. And walk away, hoping she doesn't track me down for a paternity suit.
You are an idiot.
"Just taking the Ann Coulter approach; I ask myself: “what would Ann do?”
And, of course, the answer is; write something to infuriate those who disagree with me, while making those who agree with me laugh. I make to claim to be in Ann’s league here, only that she is my inspiration."
Interesting as she is childless and you have spent the past several posts degrading people like her.
Yes, Scourge, how do you explain that?
It has all been very interesting of late. Of course, it's never really dull here.
R & R.
In two.
Months.
The upshot of the article is that educated children become productive adults who benefit all of society as workers who provide us with needed goods and services, as neighbors, as taxpayers, etc. So following that logic, you will benefit from paying those school taxes, inevitably and substantially, albeit not immediately and directly..
On the other hand, if we could just de-fund and crash the public school system, kids would be educated by private schooling, church-related schooling, and home schooling, and the outcome might be even better.
Especially if you still find a way to make your fair contribution.
Well, I'm glad the very people who work to protect our freedoms shouldn't have the right to vote in your universe.
But I'm glad your dictator directive on who can vote takes out people with children since they get back, through tax breaks for children, less than those who have none.
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