5 ms·

> Many people can't afford to have kids Wrong. Poor people have 0 problems having kids. People can afford kids, they don't want to compromise on lifestyle.

by ahtihn 4mo ago

bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
almost always the case especially in germany where you are already incentivised with super low income taxes, free kindergarten and a shit load of other payments from the goverment. its basically impossible to be poor enough not to afford children unless you are doing it intentionally.
- bushwart 4mo ago
  I wasn't aware that Germany had super low income taxes. It is certainly possible to game the welfare system and many people do, but if you want a decent standard of living then you need to be employed.
  - bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
    if you marry you basically half your income tax burden if your partner is not employed. there are also child support payments from the government of several hundred € per month that you get as well as free kindergarten, schooling and higher ed. if you are poor you get money from the state until you hit a minimum income threshhold which together with all the other payments is more than enough to have 2 children.
- jceg 4mo ago
  Super low income taxes? The general income tax brackets break down in Germany is as follows: - Up to €12,348: 0% (Tax-free allowance) - €12,349 – €69,878: 14% to 42% (Progressive increase) - €69,879 – €277,825: 42% (Proportional rate) - Over €277,826: 45% (Reichensteuer or "rich tax") Source: https://www.expatrio.com/about-germany/german-tax-system https://www.expatrio.com/about-germany/german-tax-system IMO: that doesn't look "super low". A better tax system is the one used by Estonia: a flat tax rate of 22% Source: https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/individual/taxes-on-personal-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/individual/taxes-on-per...
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
  - bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
    its low in practice for a family with a single earner is what i meant. ehegattenpsplitting. but yes by default its obviously very high but thats kind of the norm for western countries.
eecc 4mo ago
Bullshit. Ignorant people (which correlates to poor) don’t think about the long term responsibilities of having children and just fuck unprotected on a Friday night. Oops
athrowaway3z 4mo ago
In a complex situation this is perhaps the most idiotic reductive thing you could think. But if you must insist on being reductive than i'd go with: People could feed kids, but they can't afford to give their child a lifestyle similar to their own childhood.
ToucanLoucan 4mo ago
> Poor people have 0 problems having kids. A simply WILD statement given the rates of children raised in poverty with all the trauma and issues that gives, who then oftentimes grow up to be their parents doing the exact same thing. > People can afford kids, they don't want to compromise on lifestyle. Previous generations didn't have to, ours does. So if people don't want to make that compromise, they won't. Maybe if we made it systemically a bit less awful to be parents more people would do it.
- em-bee 4mo ago
  we are talking about germany here. no child in germany needs to grow up in poverty even if both parents are unemployed and are living on social welfare.
  - ToucanLoucan 4mo ago
    Poverty exists everywhere and Germany is no exception. Looking into it, the average welfare recipient is going to get ballpark 80% of what someone earning minimum wage does. Granted their lives are more stable, at least from an outside view given that the government programs directly cover rent and utilities. That said those numbers only really work for people in practice by way of budget conscious spending, i.e. grocery store brand foods and really no luxuries to speak of. By any definition, that's still poverty and is still subject to the stressors that implies. Making it so people don't end up homeless is certainly a good thing, and I'll definitely give them props for it, but like, if you were a poor kid growing up, you still knew that. Your clothes were never new for the school year, you don't get nearly as many fun foods or treats, your toys aren't as nice, all the rest. All the little psychological dings that add up to adults with issues around money management and delayed gratification. And that's assuming the parent is devoted and caring, if that's not the case, you can have ALL KINDS OF BAD in this system too. Like, again, still beats the shit out of America's system, but it's far from perfect too.
    - em-bee 4mo ago
      if you were a poor kid growing up, you still knew that i have been there, and i disagree. it's of course about attitude. and yes, sure we didn't get expensive clothes, but that wasn't an issue not in the school i went to. things might have changed, but i am sorry, it's not the problem of a welfare system to account for materialism. i was a boy scout and i got all my clothes from army surplus stores because that's what we were into. not the army style, but the sturdy hiking stuff. i was able to save up for an expensive leather school bag, not the cheap stuff everyone else in school had. i could do that because we were thrifty and didn't waste money on other unneeded luxuries. fun foods, treats? why? i am a lot healthier now because we didn't get that, and, most importantly, there was never any desire for that either. so no stress at all. as a child i never once felt that we didn't have enough money. i was proud of the way we lived. i raise my kids the same way now. money is not the issue here. our toys were almost exclusively lego. lego is expensive, but only if it is new and if you insist on expensive presents every year. it also lasts a lifetime. you don't need to spend a lot every year to have enough to play with. and nowadays there are alternative brands that are a lot cheaper and just as good. oh, we also had comic books. lots of them. we bought and traded them on flea markets. why would they have to be new, when you could get them used at a fraction of the cost? that's assuming the parent is devoted and caring in your scenario the parents already failed. again, it is not the job of the welfare system to account for bad spending habits. but i get it. that argument is not new. i heard it already when i was young. and i just didn't get it. i was able to afford everything that i wanted, and i never felt i was missing anything just because our money was limited. i didn't feel that the money was limited. i didn't know that i was poor. my classmates in school didn't know that i was poor. i didn't notice that some other kids in my class were rich either. even those who actually were. at worst i saw some kids spending money on things that i would never waste my money on, but i didn't envy them. i was able to participate in every scout camp and trip that our group was doing. i was a member of a sailing club and made my sailing license. i was able to travel to various countries in europe and even to america. by the time i finished school i had done more traveling than any of my peers. sure, i had financial support for that airplane flight, but that's the point. these things are available to everyone, regardless of income. anyone who doesn't take advantage of what is offered is either blind, ignorant or stupid. to summarize: money is not the issue. what matters is a society where people care for each other and make efforts to ensure that everyone is included, regardless of their income. the problem is, that people don't see that. they argue that the money is not enough, when in reality the problem is lack of education (how to spend your money wisely), the wrong values, false pride that prevents people from accepting help, envy, selfishness, i don't know...
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
children will massively compromise your lifestyle, not just financially but they require a lot of "labor" from you. this is probably the most important piece of the social contract and if you are breaking it you should be penalized.
- thefz 4mo ago
  So you want others to be miserable like you, to feel better?
  - bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
    [flagged]
    - thefz 4mo ago
      So basically all should do as you say, because you say so.
- zrn900 4mo ago
  > but they require a lot of "labor" from you Unpaid work. If that work were paid enough through tax incentives and state aid, people would have been having children. But it's not. If they have children, they will be working intensely at their day job in an economic environment that expects ever-increasing productivity from everyone, and then doing more work when they get home. Japan did that. People started collapsing where they worked or stopped having children. Now they are trying to reduce workload, increase financial security and increase wages. Germany set itself on the road to depopulation.
  - bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
    why would it be paid? you get the value back through the social contract. monetary incentives for children are empirically proven to be very ineffective. so the ship will go down regardless. why not to punish the culprits out of spite?
flextheruler 4mo ago
Then why are birth rates falling across all income levels in all countries? Please take the time to research your position. "This perception, however, is false. In most human societies, poverty does not predict higher fertility, and well-to-do families often have the highest fertility. When families in America have more money, they tend to have more children. The stereotype of fertility being skewed towards low-income women is a product of basically two data analysis errors: 1) failure to control for important underlying cultural stratification, and 2) failure to adequately deal with the relationship between age, income, and fertility." https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-money-more-babies-whats-the-relationship-between-income-fertility https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-money-more-babies-whats-the-...
- azan_ 4mo ago
  > Then why are birth rates falling across all income levels in all countries? Please take the time to research your position. Well yeah, if they are falling across all income levels then not being able to afford children can’t be the reason.
- skeledrew 4mo ago
  Birth rates are falling all around because access (including knowledge about) to contraceptives has increased over the years. Here in Jamaica just a few decades ago it was a regular thing to see women in poverty with a bunch of kids, and we had a decent birth rate. Today our birth rate is way lower, but I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of sex happening among especially those considered poor. It seems contradictory, but while they don't mind having kids, they'd rather not.
jnovek 4mo ago
You’re making a value statement in a discussion about factual information. Regardless of whether you think avoiding children for economic reasons is good or bad, it’s the leading reason cited by people who choose to delay having children. Regardless of whether it’s perception or real, that is the problem the needs to be solved if you want people to have kids.
- bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
  doesnt mean the solution is bombarding them with free money from the state. in a democracy there is probably no sensible or passable solution regardless.
- ghusto 4mo ago
  Does it matter that "it's the leading reason cited" if it's further questioning shows it not to be true? I've heard it many many times from many different people, and not once has it been the actual reason.
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
  - jnovek 4mo ago
    I prefer the results of studies to the anecdotes of some people you know.

> Many people can't afford to have kids Wrong. Poor people have 0 problems having kids. People can afford kids, they don't want to compromise on lifestyle.

by ahtihn 4mo ago

> Many people can't afford to have kids Wrong. Poor people have 0 problems having kids. People can afford kids, they don't want to compromise on lifestyle.

bigballsbjorn 4mo ago

almost always the case especially in germany where you are already incentivised with super low income taxes, free kindergarten and a shit load of other payments from the goverment. its basically impossible to be poor enough not to afford children unless you are doing it intentionally.

bushwart 4mo ago
I wasn't aware that Germany had super low income taxes. It is certainly possible to game the welfare system and many people do, but if you want a decent standard of living then you need to be employed.
- bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
  if you marry you basically half your income tax burden if your partner is not employed. there are also child support payments from the government of several hundred € per month that you get as well as free kindergarten, schooling and higher ed. if you are poor you get money from the state until you hit a minimum income threshhold which together with all the other payments is more than enough to have 2 children.
jceg 4mo ago
Super low income taxes? The general income tax brackets break down in Germany is as follows: - Up to €12,348: 0% (Tax-free allowance) - €12,349 – €69,878: 14% to 42% (Progressive increase) - €69,879 – €277,825: 42% (Proportional rate) - Over €277,826: 45% (Reichensteuer or "rich tax") Source: https://www.expatrio.com/about-germany/german-tax-system https://www.expatrio.com/about-germany/german-tax-system IMO: that doesn't look "super low". A better tax system is the one used by Estonia: a flat tax rate of 22% Source: https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/individual/taxes-on-personal-income https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/individual/taxes-on-per...
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
  its low in practice for a family with a single earner is what i meant. ehegattenpsplitting. but yes by default its obviously very high but thats kind of the norm for western countries.

eecc 4mo ago

Bullshit. Ignorant people (which correlates to poor) don’t think about the long term responsibilities of having children and just fuck unprotected on a Friday night. Oops

athrowaway3z 4mo ago

In a complex situation this is perhaps the most idiotic reductive thing you could think. But if you must insist on being reductive than i'd go with: People could feed kids, but they can't afford to give their child a lifestyle similar to their own childhood.

ToucanLoucan 4mo ago

> Poor people have 0 problems having kids. A simply WILD statement given the rates of children raised in poverty with all the trauma and issues that gives, who then oftentimes grow up to be their parents doing the exact same thing. > People can afford kids, they don't want to compromise on lifestyle. Previous generations didn't have to, ours does. So if people don't want to make that compromise, they won't. Maybe if we made it systemically a bit less awful to be parents more people would do it.

em-bee 4mo ago
we are talking about germany here. no child in germany needs to grow up in poverty even if both parents are unemployed and are living on social welfare.
- ToucanLoucan 4mo ago
  Poverty exists everywhere and Germany is no exception. Looking into it, the average welfare recipient is going to get ballpark 80% of what someone earning minimum wage does. Granted their lives are more stable, at least from an outside view given that the government programs directly cover rent and utilities. That said those numbers only really work for people in practice by way of budget conscious spending, i.e. grocery store brand foods and really no luxuries to speak of. By any definition, that's still poverty and is still subject to the stressors that implies. Making it so people don't end up homeless is certainly a good thing, and I'll definitely give them props for it, but like, if you were a poor kid growing up, you still knew that. Your clothes were never new for the school year, you don't get nearly as many fun foods or treats, your toys aren't as nice, all the rest. All the little psychological dings that add up to adults with issues around money management and delayed gratification. And that's assuming the parent is devoted and caring, if that's not the case, you can have ALL KINDS OF BAD in this system too. Like, again, still beats the shit out of America's system, but it's far from perfect too.
  - em-bee 4mo ago
    if you were a poor kid growing up, you still knew that i have been there, and i disagree. it's of course about attitude. and yes, sure we didn't get expensive clothes, but that wasn't an issue not in the school i went to. things might have changed, but i am sorry, it's not the problem of a welfare system to account for materialism. i was a boy scout and i got all my clothes from army surplus stores because that's what we were into. not the army style, but the sturdy hiking stuff. i was able to save up for an expensive leather school bag, not the cheap stuff everyone else in school had. i could do that because we were thrifty and didn't waste money on other unneeded luxuries. fun foods, treats? why? i am a lot healthier now because we didn't get that, and, most importantly, there was never any desire for that either. so no stress at all. as a child i never once felt that we didn't have enough money. i was proud of the way we lived. i raise my kids the same way now. money is not the issue here. our toys were almost exclusively lego. lego is expensive, but only if it is new and if you insist on expensive presents every year. it also lasts a lifetime. you don't need to spend a lot every year to have enough to play with. and nowadays there are alternative brands that are a lot cheaper and just as good. oh, we also had comic books. lots of them. we bought and traded them on flea markets. why would they have to be new, when you could get them used at a fraction of the cost? that's assuming the parent is devoted and caring in your scenario the parents already failed. again, it is not the job of the welfare system to account for bad spending habits. but i get it. that argument is not new. i heard it already when i was young. and i just didn't get it. i was able to afford everything that i wanted, and i never felt i was missing anything just because our money was limited. i didn't feel that the money was limited. i didn't know that i was poor. my classmates in school didn't know that i was poor. i didn't notice that some other kids in my class were rich either. even those who actually were. at worst i saw some kids spending money on things that i would never waste my money on, but i didn't envy them. i was able to participate in every scout camp and trip that our group was doing. i was a member of a sailing club and made my sailing license. i was able to travel to various countries in europe and even to america. by the time i finished school i had done more traveling than any of my peers. sure, i had financial support for that airplane flight, but that's the point. these things are available to everyone, regardless of income. anyone who doesn't take advantage of what is offered is either blind, ignorant or stupid. to summarize: money is not the issue. what matters is a society where people care for each other and make efforts to ensure that everyone is included, regardless of their income. the problem is, that people don't see that. they argue that the money is not enough, when in reality the problem is lack of education (how to spend your money wisely), the wrong values, false pride that prevents people from accepting help, envy, selfishness, i don't know...

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

bigballsbjorn 4mo ago

children will massively compromise your lifestyle, not just financially but they require a lot of "labor" from you. this is probably the most important piece of the social contract and if you are breaking it you should be penalized.

thefz 4mo ago
So you want others to be miserable like you, to feel better?
- bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
  [flagged]
  - thefz 4mo ago
    So basically all should do as you say, because you say so.
zrn900 4mo ago
> but they require a lot of "labor" from you Unpaid work. If that work were paid enough through tax incentives and state aid, people would have been having children. But it's not. If they have children, they will be working intensely at their day job in an economic environment that expects ever-increasing productivity from everyone, and then doing more work when they get home. Japan did that. People started collapsing where they worked or stopped having children. Now they are trying to reduce workload, increase financial security and increase wages. Germany set itself on the road to depopulation.
- bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
  why would it be paid? you get the value back through the social contract. monetary incentives for children are empirically proven to be very ineffective. so the ship will go down regardless. why not to punish the culprits out of spite?

flextheruler 4mo ago

Then why are birth rates falling across all income levels in all countries? Please take the time to research your position. "This perception, however, is false. In most human societies, poverty does not predict higher fertility, and well-to-do families often have the highest fertility. When families in America have more money, they tend to have more children. The stereotype of fertility being skewed towards low-income women is a product of basically two data analysis errors: 1) failure to control for important underlying cultural stratification, and 2) failure to adequately deal with the relationship between age, income, and fertility." https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-money-more-babies-whats-the-relationship-between-income-fertility https://ifstudies.org/blog/more-money-more-babies-whats-the-...

azan_ 4mo ago
> Then why are birth rates falling across all income levels in all countries? Please take the time to research your position. Well yeah, if they are falling across all income levels then not being able to afford children can’t be the reason.
skeledrew 4mo ago
Birth rates are falling all around because access (including knowledge about) to contraceptives has increased over the years. Here in Jamaica just a few decades ago it was a regular thing to see women in poverty with a bunch of kids, and we had a decent birth rate. Today our birth rate is way lower, but I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of sex happening among especially those considered poor. It seems contradictory, but while they don't mind having kids, they'd rather not.

jnovek 4mo ago

You’re making a value statement in a discussion about factual information. Regardless of whether you think avoiding children for economic reasons is good or bad, it’s the leading reason cited by people who choose to delay having children. Regardless of whether it’s perception or real, that is the problem the needs to be solved if you want people to have kids.

bigballsbjorn 4mo ago
doesnt mean the solution is bombarding them with free money from the state. in a democracy there is probably no sensible or passable solution regardless.
ghusto 4mo ago
Does it matter that "it's the leading reason cited" if it's further questioning shows it not to be true? I've heard it many many times from many different people, and not once has it been the actual reason.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- jnovek 4mo ago
  I prefer the results of studies to the anecdotes of some people you know.