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.
I'd prefer those who don't pay taxes to be out of the voting pool. Otherwise you are supporting (in oh so many ways) irresponsible non-taxpaying welfare dynasties over those who are productive in business, if not in children.
Darn right! What do the childless think this is, a free country???
And I see my friends with kids stuck while I run and they are the ones who regret it, not me!!!
Grandkids, please.
Old spinster, I am married. I do not play Bridge. And We will be on the bike not a senior bus tour!
70's whose planning on living that long?
Can't be wrong. I said "probably."
Hey, Shannon! I'm childless! Why don't I just stop working, go home, apply for welfare, and stop paying taxes! Then you'll see a REAL parasite, buzzard-breath!
Thank you, you said what I couldn't put into words as nice as you did....!
A.N.S.W.E.R. is fond of it, I notice....
Well I'm a Redskins fan so I root for the Skins and anyone playing the Cowboys...
I remember that game, I was going crazy...just too bad the Texans haven't been able to win many more since that one!!
"By your thirties you’ll have a whole different attitude."
That's because you're cool.
Scourge and Purge are just funny.
And fulla crap.
Go to bed, Allegra.
OK, OK! Good night!
No more than I ~hate~ my friends now who talk about their kids. (Hint: I don't)
There are lots of joys in life in a free country... don't mistakenly think I want yours, and I won't resent you for being presumptuous and wrong. :~D Deal?
I was thinking Lech Walesa.
Go to hell, troll.
The original George Washington didn't have children either.
Oh, what a zinger! Yes! I am cut to the quick! So wise! So profound! So elegantly stated! I reel, staggering, from such a heavyweight intellectual blow!
Gosh. Thanks. {blush!}
You should try reading the actual conversation before you spout off nonsense. I've got my Mother-In-Law for this kind of brow beating and I certainly don't need it from you.
Here's hoping you do too.
Yes you do. Give me your email address, and I’ll send you lots more.
"The childless shouldn't be allowed to vote."
Au contraire, voting rights should be allocated as a percentage of the tax you pay since you are voting on who will decide what will be done with your money.
Besides, there will soon be no room for children, the space having been taken up by illegal immigrants and their children. Humm, that gives me an idea: every childless American can be forced to adopt a Mexican family and pay for the Mexican childrens education, medical costs, etc. But then again, that's no different from the present status.
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