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I was thinking about this recently, and I think the primary issue is capitalism. In particular, how it's completely taken over society and how we view worth and
by dottjt 3y ago
I was thinking about this recently, and I think the primary issue is capitalism. In particular, how it's completely taken over society and how we view worth and value.
Capitalism doesn't care about families. The only thing capitalism cares about is consumption. So it doesn't really matter if you have 10 kids or no kids, as long as you're consuming, the system is happy. This is of course great if you're the kind of person who never wanted kids to begin with.
The problem however is that Capitalism is short-sighted. It doesn't care about future consumption, just consumption right now in the moment. So inevitably capitalism face issues sustaining itself when there are less people around in the future to consume, as well as sustain all existing debts.
- Osiris 3y agoCapitalism wants not just consumption but increasing consumption. In that vein, a decreasing or stagnating population is bad for capitalism. Capitalism wants the pie to keep getting bigger. Look at countries where population growth is negative. The economies have stagnated. Children are essential to capitalism.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- parineum 3y agoEven if granting you are correct in your identification of the problem, you offer no explanation of how an alternative system would work any differently. I guess feudalism would increase fertility given that feudal lords need more serfs to tend their land.
- dottjt 3y agoI don't think there is a viable alternate system. If you have a look at past history, societies and ideas and values come and go. They rise and then they collapse. This is just the way it is. With that said if I had to propose an idea, I would provide money to people to have children. Have the state subsidise it. Provide stay at home mums with a decent income. Fundamentally however, that will create all sorts of issues, because it doesn't change the fact that money still controls society. Fundamentally, I think the issue is that society no longer has a set of values to propel it forward. In the past, I think values were an extension of nation (and whatever culture that entailed). Now, that value is money. Which is creating all the distortions we're seeing today.
- rs999gti 3y agoI would argue that corporations in capitalism want and need the immigrants and babies to keep a steady customer base and consumption of their products.