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.
How about you change the laws to where fathers/exhusbands are no longer wage-slaves to their former wifes, and I might father some children then.
And then there is those 40 million abortions.
"Perhaps if the participants had grim, purposeful looks on their faces during the act, it would help?
"
Another sure clue that the sex is recreational is if the people are naked. So, you need to take that photo while having sex fully clothed, with only sufficient clothing removed to allow for the act.
Once per month is all that's allowed, at the woman's most fertile time. Then, after having sex, you'll be unclean for several days, have to perform ritual cleansing procedures and stay away from the altar until the unclean period has passed.
The bottom line is that it's easier just to have a child as soon as possible, so you can vote. I suggest that would-be voters begin having intercourse in earnest about age 16, so they can vote as soon as they are 18.
Yeah...that's the ticket.
"I agree with your sentiments - however I still plan on utilizing SS and medicare."
Well, I've been paying for it all these years so I will use it if available. The point is I don't feel others are obligated to breed just to ensure my future security.
{{{{{HUG}}}}}
The above is so overflowing with ignorance that it’s hard to know where to start. First, where did the monks come from? Spontaneous combustion? Second, ya ever hear of the Arabs? The Chinese? You know, other cultures that had vibrant civilizations while Europe was a cesspit?
Then there was that Jew, Jesus. Last I heard, he didn't have any kids either. Perhaps you'd like to ignore his contributions as well.
Yet—Jesus had parents. He didn’t spring from a hole in the ground (well, he did, but after death, not before birth.) And, apparently you didn’t read the Da Vinci Code.
Scourge of God, eh? You're the chosen carrying of the whip, then? That's good to know. Someone needs to carry on with the tradition of mindless punishments in the name of God, I suppose.
A final bit of ignorance. If you’ve never heard of Attila the Hun, perhaps you don’t have what it takes to post on this forum. You’d be more comfortable at DU, most likely.
Good idea. I will do so right away.
Hey - My $$$ is on BraveMan -- KO in the first.
;-)
"There is absolutely no nobility in deciding to remain childless for purely selfish reasons."
Ah, I see. And who is the judge of that, Antoninus? You? Me? The Elders?
And...is "nobility" required to cast your vote? My wife and I are childless. Why are we childless? Do you know? Would you insist that I explain the reason to you before gaining full citizenship? Is it your business?
Not every childless couple is childless out of selfish reasons, dear Antoninus. And their reasons for being childless are of no concern to you whatsoever.
Good for you for having children (assuming that you do). That is your business. My childlessness is none of your concern, nor is it the concern of anyone other than myself and my wife. Your assumptions are unwelcome.
Yeah, I've noticed that the only people at my company who are allowed to work from home are women with kids...
The Da Vinci Code???? LOL! Please say that was sarcasm!
Hey, you pay taxes to support them when they grow up and join the army.
"Hey, you pay taxes to support them when they grow up and join the army."
And when they take civil service jobs, run for political office, or become teachers in the public schools, and so on and so on.
Heck, us childless folks are paying for lots of those children, it seems. Hmm...
Of course it was. :->
"Now, why are you so pissy about building the future for those to come? We are carrying you"
Oh please, you can't be serious. Most of the "childless by choice" are serious career minded folks who are driving the economy. They ARE some of the thinkers, the leaders, the innovators, because they have the time and the resources to be them. They contribute to the economy and society every bit as much if not more as those who do nothing else but pop out a few kids, and I say this as a stay at home mom of three. One could even say that THEY are carrying US, from an economic perspective anyway, since they are the ones who keep the economy humming, but I won't say that because I realize we all have our own equally important contributions to make.
"This thread really brough them out of the woodwork. Well, at least today I learned that Africa is a hell hole because of a lack of "breeders"."
And here I thought much of the world's poverty was caused by a serious overpopulation problem. Who knew?
Not every childless person is that way because they simply don't want children.
There are so many valid scenarios for not having children. And to each one's own, I believe. Last I looked, America was a free nation.
For some pusillanimous pismire to come along and condemn all of those people and suggest disenfranchisement is just ludicrous.
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