4 ms·

Why not simply pay the homemakers? Why is it so important that everyone produce economic output at the widget factory? Allow me to translate into a language yo

Why not simply pay the homemakers? Why is it so important that everyone produce economic output at the widget factory? Allow me to translate into a language you can understand: The people who are all “unemployed” are actually performing valuable services like maintaining the future labor pool, learning how to become skilled workers, and so on. These people should not have a second job, they should be paid for the valuable services they’re providing.

nradov 7mo ago
[flagged]
- ceejayoz 7mo ago
  Huh. You used to be concerned with declining birth rates. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11000823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11000823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38735888 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38735888
  - Hikikomori 7mo ago
    Not if it costs something.
mitthrowaway2 7mo ago
IMO, basic income for parents is absolutely a policy that Japan should enact. And the question of how much the payment should be has a straightforward answer: adjust until the birth rate reaches replacement. If the payment ends up high enough that some mothers or fathers opt to leave the labor force to focus on raising their kids, then so be it; that's probably healthier for society in the long term. It would be expensive, yes, but cheaper than the alternatives. And anyway, Japan's stagnant economy would likely benefit from the boost to consumer demand.
- daedrdev 7mo ago
  There is no guarantee people with no wants will have kids, in fact I expect the opposite
  - mitthrowaway2 7mo ago
    Those people can work for their income then; the policy I was discussing only relates to the government paying parents an income, ideally on a per-child basis (up to some maximum, maybe four; you need to have some people having bigger families to balance out the ones who don't have any children at all, but you also don't want people farming kids for money).

nradov 7mo ago

[flagged]

ceejayoz 7mo ago
Huh. You used to be concerned with declining birth rates. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11000823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11000823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38735888 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38735888
- Hikikomori 7mo ago
  Not if it costs something.

mitthrowaway2 7mo ago

IMO, basic income for parents is absolutely a policy that Japan should enact. And the question of how much the payment should be has a straightforward answer: adjust until the birth rate reaches replacement. If the payment ends up high enough that some mothers or fathers opt to leave the labor force to focus on raising their kids, then so be it; that's probably healthier for society in the long term. It would be expensive, yes, but cheaper than the alternatives. And anyway, Japan's stagnant economy would likely benefit from the boost to consumer demand.

daedrdev 7mo ago
There is no guarantee people with no wants will have kids, in fact I expect the opposite
- mitthrowaway2 7mo ago
  Those people can work for their income then; the policy I was discussing only relates to the government paying parents an income, ideally on a per-child basis (up to some maximum, maybe four; you need to have some people having bigger families to balance out the ones who don't have any children at all, but you also don't want people farming kids for money).