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Retired people provide a lot of useful labor, it’s just much of it is in the home and therefore both unpaid and invisible. Grandparents provide childcare for w
by alasdair_ 5y ago
Retired people provide a lot of useful labor, it’s just much of it is in the home and therefore both unpaid and invisible.
Grandparents provide childcare for working children and they help take care of their spouses that would otherwise need in-home care. It’s a complicated calculation.
- wheels 5y agoI think the argument that you're making is that smoking is a net-negative economically, which strikes me as plausible, if not obviously true. There you'd also need to go a step further and consider the economic contributions of the tobacco industry. You're right that it's very complicated (and macabre). But that's a broader question than whether or not their relative costs (vs. payments) into a healthcare system. The reason I brought up retirement is that most people in the west pay into health care systems until retirement, and only (or mostly) draw from it once retired.