351–360 of 432 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People who work in social support? Look at east vs west Germany. West Germany struggled with demand for social and child services during the pandemic, but the East never dismantled theirs, and it showed. Care and support are jobs.
Where do the people who work in social support send their kids?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been amazing to me that developed countries have bemoaned birth rates... and then done nothing effective about it. You know what says "This country values parents who choose to have children?" Actual replacement of lost income potential and career progression. Yes, in the US there are tax credits, SNAP, etc. None of these even come close to replacing the life income changes. If we were serious about it, we'd hav…
I believe France has implemented some policies that have been somewhat effective at increasing their birth rates, compared to other European countries?
An example of policy would be explicit subsidy of child support. Culture might be preferring to live in villages rather than cities. Economic structure might be lower housing costs for child-bearing families. More of France's immigrants may have been female, whereas Germany got mainly male immigrants/Gastarbeiters, etc.
France's total fertility rate fell below replacement around 1980 and it is still below replacement.[1] So if policy makes a difference, France is not trying hard enough.
1. https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/FERT/TOT/...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I pay "only" 10% more than the exchange rate adjusted amount you're paying. Top 5 US city. Don't take too much stock in the ridiculous numbers you hear. I've lived in podunc land, the suburbs, and major city and I always paid within 10% of what you're paying. £1200 in my top 5 city would get you a newly built daycare, with all the modern gizmos, a kitchen built "especially for young children", a teacher with 10+ yr e…
What is this top 5 US city? Half decent infant daycare in SF/SEA/NYC/LA/DC suburbs is going to be minimum $1,700 per month, in the cheapest of those metro areas. In tier 2 cities, I would question the quality for anything less than $1,300 per month. And in no major US city would I enroll my child in a $1,000 per month or less daycare. You can even back into the max teacher pay based on monthly daycare costs since you…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yes, in the US there are tax credits, SNAP, etc. None of these even come close to replacing the life income changes. Our three kids are gonna cost us at least half a million dollars by the time they're all 18, between lost income, daycare costs, higher housing costs (not just a bigger house to maintain a similar comfort level, but also one in a much more expensive area than we might otherwise live in, since we have…
> Kids are basically financial suicide unless you're crazy-rich. Or if you're very poor, then the more kids you have, the more you receive in benefits. Many poor people manage to have more kids than middle class people. The middle class parent thinks "if I have another kid how will I pay for their college?" The poor parent just sends their kids to community college or if they're amazingly brilliant and get into Harva…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No disagreement about any of those things. I would just add: It should be easy for women who wish to be with their babies and breast-feed them to do so. It should also be easy for dads! BTW, I'm about two weeks out from becoming a father. I only get 2 months paternity leave, but if I were the mother, I'd get 4! This seems unfair to me, but it's certainly better than if the policy were reversed . It seems like there's…
Congratulations! As someone on the other end of them, those 2 months will go by very fast.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is this top 5 US city? Half decent infant daycare in SF/SEA/NYC/LA/DC suburbs is going to be minimum $1,700 per month, in the cheapest of those metro areas. In tier 2 cities, I would question the quality for anything less than $1,300 per month. And in no major US city would I enroll my child in a $1,000 per month or less daycare. You can even back into the max teacher pay based on monthly daycare costs since you…
[deleted for privacy]
I would have expected Phoenix to be more expensive, but it is probably cheaper due to more lax staffing ratios.
It's election season and I've been out talking to voters, who share their life stories... what I would say is that there are many women who are choosing WFH because they either can't afford or can't find day care, which may lead to deciding that hey, they might as well have another baby if they are now committed to this employment model. I've spoken to several women who were over-qualified for the jobs they had taken…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a parent of, IMHO the first six months are when they need the most attention, not when they're the easiest. Infants desire constant affection, feeding, cleaning, and some never stop crying. Once they can crawl it's off to the races. Basically anything can hold their attention for half an hour while you take a short meeting. I've worked from home with two infants, then toddlers, and now kids. Infants were the harde…
In my experience, once they start crawling, they are putting things in their mouth, or falling, or getting a finger stuck, or making a mess, or wanting to feed…and confining them to a kid safe zone just makes them want to be out of the zone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. It was a handshake "come back tomorrow for the paperwork" deal with the manager. The underling who handed me the papers said they would never have agreed to the lower interest rate. I told her to go check with the manager. She did, and came back complaining that she'd have to redo the papers (!). 2. A "new" car doesn't have 5,000 miles on it. They told me it was new. There was no ambiguity there. They pushed the p…
1. I wouldn't call a miscommunication between a handshake deal with multiple people and departments involved and the next day the exact same as a "term sheet ruse" which implies there are games being played on the actual term sheet in front of you. I would say in many industries there are terms on the final documents that don't always exactly match what earlier communications, and yes it's important to make sure they…
But when they always err in favor of the dealer, I get suspicious.
> I still wonder how you made it to the paperwork stage without seeing the car and noticing it wasn't exactly 'new new'
I foolishly had not checked the odometer. I assumed that if the salesman said it was new, that it was new. Anyhow, on noticing the mileage on the final documents, I pointed it out, said I wanted a new car, and walked out. They watched me go, and when I was backing out of the parking lot, came running out and said they'd make buying it worth my while. And they did.
A car is designed for 200,000 miles. 5,000 is a significant chunk of that, and also the new car warranty is based on absolute mileage, not miles since buying it.
4. The various printed sheets that were not the final documents were printed separately and had no signature block. "I can't even imagine how we'd get the computer system to do this" You can probably do it with Excel. The idea is to focus the customer on the bottom line, and then he likely won't notice the column numbers were different on the final sheet because the total would be the same.
How does a baby boom only exist among women? I don't understand the headline