4 ms·

Israel is the only developed country which has a sustained positive fertility rate.

lazyasciiart 1y ago
But that’s not an example of a solution - the birth rate is driven by orthodox citizens who don’t participate in mainstream society, so they aren’t going to pay taxes or care for the elderly (outside their own family).
- spacebanana7 1y ago
  Yeah it’s a pessimistic data point because it’s challenging to replicate Israel’s unique circumstances and also it’s not clear this solution is even good for Israel.
ImHereToVote 1y ago
Seems like the US taxpayer should subsidize all countries as much as they subsidize Israel. That would fix it.
- ido 1y ago
  US economic aid to Israel ended in 2007 (18 years ago). The US since then only provides Israel with military aid (most of which is only allowed to be spent buying US-made goods). It’s more of a subsidy for the US military-industrial complex. Also despite the military aid Israel still spends a much greater share of GDP on its military than most or all other developed countries (so the US isn't subsidising Israel’s unusually high birth rate).
  - arandomusername 1y ago
    > It’s more of a subsidy for the US military-industrial complex. That's a funny way to twist it. US is providing aid to Israel. Billions a year. US also provides indirect aid, through protection or aid to neighbouring countries (e.g Jordan and Egypt) as bribes so they play nice with Israel. And who knows, with the way the Iran thing is panning out, you might be paying a lot more if US decides to bomb Iran on Israel's request
    - ido 1y ago
      And how does this explain Israel's abnormal birth rate (what ImHereToVote suggested in the parent comment)? I claim it's unrelated and is mostly to do with cultural and religious norms. If the US starts sending proportional military aid to South Korea (fertility rate of 0.75 vs Israel's 2.83) it will not "fix it".
      - arandomusername 1y ago
        I went a bit off-topic, just wanted to comment on the extra aid they receive. I do agree that it's not because of the US aid.
        ido 1y ago
        I agree my reply was flippant because I was annoyed by the original comment, and I apologise for that. The US provides and provided a ton of assistance to Israel but there’s a tendency online for people (probably mostly Americans?) to assign credit to literally everything that happens in Israel to US aid. Israel exists outside of US-Israel politics and not everything (like birthrates) that happens there is because of the US. The US also supported/aided a lot of other countries that didn’t experience the same economic/industrial/technological development that Israel has in the last 30-40 years - some of it really is because of Israelis’ efforts and not just because of Americans’.
  - lostlogin 1y ago
    > US economic aid to Israel ended in 2007 (18 years ago). The US since then only provides Israel with military aid (most of which is only allowed to be spent buying US-made goods). That’s one hell of a disclaimer on the statement.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

But that’s not an example of a solution - the birth rate is driven by orthodox citizens who don’t participate in mainstream society, so they aren’t going to pay taxes or care for the elderly (outside their own family).

spacebanana7 1y ago
Yeah it’s a pessimistic data point because it’s challenging to replicate Israel’s unique circumstances and also it’s not clear this solution is even good for Israel.

ImHereToVote 1y ago

Seems like the US taxpayer should subsidize all countries as much as they subsidize Israel. That would fix it.

ido 1y ago
US economic aid to Israel ended in 2007 (18 years ago). The US since then only provides Israel with military aid (most of which is only allowed to be spent buying US-made goods). It’s more of a subsidy for the US military-industrial complex. Also despite the military aid Israel still spends a much greater share of GDP on its military than most or all other developed countries (so the US isn't subsidising Israel’s unusually high birth rate).
- arandomusername 1y ago
  > It’s more of a subsidy for the US military-industrial complex. That's a funny way to twist it. US is providing aid to Israel. Billions a year. US also provides indirect aid, through protection or aid to neighbouring countries (e.g Jordan and Egypt) as bribes so they play nice with Israel. And who knows, with the way the Iran thing is panning out, you might be paying a lot more if US decides to bomb Iran on Israel's request
  - ido 1y ago
    And how does this explain Israel's abnormal birth rate (what ImHereToVote suggested in the parent comment)? I claim it's unrelated and is mostly to do with cultural and religious norms. If the US starts sending proportional military aid to South Korea (fertility rate of 0.75 vs Israel's 2.83) it will not "fix it".
    - arandomusername 1y ago
      I went a bit off-topic, just wanted to comment on the extra aid they receive. I do agree that it's not because of the US aid.
      - ido 1y ago
        I agree my reply was flippant because I was annoyed by the original comment, and I apologise for that. The US provides and provided a ton of assistance to Israel but there’s a tendency online for people (probably mostly Americans?) to assign credit to literally everything that happens in Israel to US aid. Israel exists outside of US-Israel politics and not everything (like birthrates) that happens there is because of the US. The US also supported/aided a lot of other countries that didn’t experience the same economic/industrial/technological development that Israel has in the last 30-40 years - some of it really is because of Israelis’ efforts and not just because of Americans’.
- lostlogin 1y ago
  > US economic aid to Israel ended in 2007 (18 years ago). The US since then only provides Israel with military aid (most of which is only allowed to be spent buying US-made goods). That’s one hell of a disclaimer on the statement.

deleted 1y ago

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